Pokespe Meets Anime!
by madmuffin14
Summary: Giratina has sent the pokemon special dex holders into another dimension. They arrive in a strange place, full of challenges, mysteries, and people with annoying voices. This world is known simply as "anime"
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! Just so you know, this is not a pokemon anime fanfiction. **_**If you like the anime, or for any other reason think you will be offended by this, then please do not read it. **_**I will be making fun of the anime, but I am not making fun of the people who like it. Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion. My opinion is that the manga is much, much better. I wrote this for fun, and I'm hoping people will have fun reading it. Thanks!**

**Oh, and I do not own pokemon.**

Giratina had thrown them into another dimension.

It was team rocket.

All team rocket.

They had made it seem easy, capturing Giratina.

And, just like that, they had ordered it to send them away.

It obeyed without fail, as any loyal pokemon would.

Thrown out like trash.

Into a world unknown.

Spiralling through the fabric of dimension, fear growing in their hearts.

Dimension travelling was a new thing, and it was horribly taxing on body, mind and spirit.

Nothing could stop their minds from racing, even as their bodies grew weaker.

_And weaker._

_Crash._

_Darkness._

_They were there._

Green woke up before any of the others. His hearing slowly adjusted, and he could hear the light rustling of a forest all around him. He shakily sat up, and opened his eyes. He frowned a bit as his vision slowly focused.

"Giratina's gone easy on us," he mumbled, to no one in particular.

Everything seemed less threatening somehow. It all looked the same, but it just seemed… different.

He felt for his pack, then pulled out his pokedex, trying to see if it still worked. He smiled slightly as the screen flickered on. He scrolled through options, and finally came to the new "Location feature". It was a handy device unique to the new version of the pokedex. As it searched for a signal, he glanced around.

He was in a small clearing, and he was not alone. Red, Blue, and Yellow, as well as Red's pikachu, were slowly stirring.

Red was the next to sit up, rubbing his head.

"Wh… where are we?" he muttered sleepily.

Green's pokedex beeped as it found their location.

"We're just on the outskirts of… Sandalstraw Town," he announced.

"Team rocket sent us here…" whispered Red. "We've got to be on our guard. Anyone we meet could be working for them."

Green nodded. "If we ever wish to return home, we must keep a lookout for them. As soon as they realise Giratina didn't completely dispose of us, they'll come here after us. We'll need to be ready to fight. That being said, we know nothing about this world or how it functions…"

"Well, this doesn't look like the worst place Giratina could have sent us," said Blue, standing up unsteadily. "But either way, I wouldn't want to meet anything potentially dangerous just yet."

She pulled out a pokeball and released her wigglytuff. She held onto it as it inflated and floated in the breeze.

"I'll check and see if the coast is clear."

The two boys watched as she flew up, and became a speck in the sky.

Green sighed. "Pesky woman."

Yellow yawned and crawled over to see Pika. Relief washed over her as the small yellow pokemon twitched and stood, completely oblivious to the tiring journey.

Suddenly, Yellow's eyes snapped open and she jumped to her feet.

"Where's Chuchu? She was out of the pokeball too!" The blond frantically searched the clearing and, finding no hint of her friend, tried to set off into the forest.

"Yellow, wait!" yelled Red, standing.

Green stood as well. "We're disoriented after the fall! You could be headed anywhere."

Yellow stopped and stood, hopelessly. Her arms fell to her sides and she looked sadly at Red.

Suddenly, Pika's ears shot up attentively, and he desperately chattered at Yellow.

"Pika hears something!" she said, and went over to the yellow mouse.

She kneeled down next to Pika. Placing her hand on his forehead, she concentrated deeply. Red and Green watched as she read the pokemon's mind.

This was her special power. She could focus hard enough to connect with pokemon in such a way that she could sense their thoughts, and even heal their wounds.

All was silent and still.

Suddenly, Yellow jumped to her feet.

"It _is _Chuchu! She's just over this way!" she shouted. She stood up and followed Pika as he dashed into the woods.

"Yellow!" Red called, but it was too late.

At that exact moment, Blue dropped back down with her wigglytuff.

"A group of travellers is approaching from the North," she announced, pointing to where Yellow had just run off.

"Yellow! She just…" Red sprinted off, closely followed by Green and a slightly confused Blue.

After a couple minutes of dashing through the forest, Red was relieved to see Yellow's bright blond ponytail bobbing in a clearing as she spoke to a group of kids. He walked up beside her just as the youngest boy was talking. He had black hair and a red hat.

"Ah, yes! I was looking for the owner of this pikachu! I have one myself, and I know how they can turn into super special friends!"

As if in response, another pikachu jumped up onto the boy's shoulder.

"It's good to see it returning home," Said a girl with a white hat and… Blue hair.

The third one, an older boy, just chuckled. Then he caught sight of Blue.

"OH MY GOSH! A BEAUTIFUL GIRL HAS WANDERED IN AMONGST US! IT MUST BE FATE!"

"Ew!" Blue screeched and shoved the boy to the side.

"Erm… right," Yellow said, taking her pikachu from the younger boy's arms. She awkwardly glanced at Red, Green and Blue.

"Let's go, Yellow," said Green, annoyed at the false alarm. He turned around and started to walk away from the strange group of travellers.

The youngest boy suddenly straightened up. Adopting something of a battle stance, he addressed Green.

"GARY?"

Green looked over his shoulder and blinked.

"What?"

The boy stared at him with exasperation.

"Come on, Gary! Let's BATTLE!"

Green turned back around, scowling.

"I have no time for this. Come on, Red, Blue, Yellow, let's go."

"COME ON GARY! DON'T BE SUCH A COWARD!" The younger boy shouted hysterically. He ran up and stood next to Green.

Green reeled around and kicked the boy away. "I'm not a coward for not wishing to waste my time battling someone like you," he said, still calm.

"Thatwasn'tnicethatwasn'tnicethatwasn'tnice," whimpered the boy from the ground.

The blue-haired girl ran to the boy's side and pulled him up.

"Since when are you so rude? I thought you were a poet! I challenge you to a double battle! You and one of your new friends!"

Red chuckled.

"Aw, come on Green. It's just for fun. Let these kids have their battle…"

Red pulled out a pokeball and smiled. He looked at Green expectantly.

Blue giggled and Yellow stared, wide-eyed.

The young traveller smiled.

"Oh yeah, well you can't beat me!" He glanced at Red.

"For Gary's new friends, I'll introduce myself! I'm Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town! I'm gonna be the greatest pokemon master ever! I have seven badges and I'm almost on my way to the league! This won't be easy!"

"This was your idea," said Green, through gritted teeth.

"Seven badges?" mouthed Red in disbelief. "From Pallet Town?"

The girl with Blue hair began to talk.

"I'm Dawn, from Twinleaf Town! I'm gonna be the best co-ordinator ev…"

"Shut up!" shouted Green, releasing his rhydon.

Red sent out his poliwrath, Poli.

Ash flipped around his hat, the world went all swirly, and he shouted:

"I CHOOSE YOU, PIKACHU!"

He pointed, and pikachu jumped into the ring.

"Pika! Pikachu pika!"

Blue giggled again.

"Well that was dramatic!"

Yellow looked a little embarrassed for the pikachu.

The world went swirly for Dawn as well, and she dramatically called out a piplup.

The older boy rushed around to the side of the battlefield.

"I'm Brock! From Pewter City! I'll be the referee!"

"Referee?" Asked Green. "Either you win, or you don't. It's obvious who wins in friendly matches. There's no need for you. Now get off the sidelines before you're hit by an attack."

Brock looked startled. He turned toward his friends.

"Be careful, guys! He called.

Ash looked serious now. The look didn't suit him.

"PIKACHU! USE THUNDERSHOCK! AIM FOR THE HORN!"

The blast of electricity was immediately drawn to rhydon's horn. It did nothing.

"My rhydon has the lightningrod ability. No matter where you aim, electric attacks will be drawn to the horn. As well as that, rhydon is a ground type. Electric attacks don't work," Green said, annoyed at his challenger.

Ash stood across the field, a rather dim expression on his face.

Giving up, Green ordered his rhydon to use stomp. Within seconds, Ash's pikachu was fainted on the ground.

"PIKACHUUUU!" shouted Ash, dramatically.

He ran into the battlefield and knelt by his pikachu. He picked it up and hugged it to his chest. A shadow fell over his face.

"It's up to you now, Dawn," he said, in a barely audible whisper.

"Get out of the battlefield!" called Red, concerned for the strange boy.

"Piplup, use HYDRO PUMP!" shouted Dawn.

Red quickly had Poli deflect it with his own hydro pump. The water needlessly exploded. Poli's attack broke free and ricocheted back at piplup. The penguin pokemon fainted upon impact.

Brock gasped. "Both piplup and pikachu are unable to battle! The… the other team wins!" he cried.

"Oh, _brilliant _deduction!" laughed Blue.

An extra shadow fell over Ash's face, clutching pikachu in the middle of the field.

"Pi… pikachu… how?" He muttered.

Red and Green walked up to Ash, and Red sympathetically extended a hand. He pulled Ash off the ground and smiled.

"It's okay! Everyone loses sometimes. I'm sure if you just keep trying, someday you can be a great pokemon trainer!" he said, in a practised speech he had recited to hundreds of challengers.

Green noticed a fallen box, and scooped it off the ground. He was just about to hand it back, when the lid fell off. The sun glinted off the contents of the box, and Green lowered it, shocked at the contents.

"Red…" he mumbled

Red turned towards him. Blue and Yellow walked up, bemused.

"I think we can safely conclude that this world is much like our own. It has pretty much all of the same characteristics. So how did this boy, with his skill level, get seven badges?"

Yellow blinked. Sure enough, seven Sinnoh region badges were strewn across the inside of the box.

"Hey! Give me back my badges!" shouted Ash, snatching the box out of Green's grip.

"Are you sure they're real?" asked Blue. "I've made fake badges before…"

"Come on guys, it doesn't matter. Let's go," Yellow said.

Green nodded.

The four pokedex owners sent out each of their flying pokemon. Red mounted an aerodactyl, Green jumped onto his charizard, Blue held onto a hovering wigglytuff, and Yellow appeared to have sprouted wings as her butterfree grasped her back.

The reaction was immediate.

"What kind of pokemon is _that_?" Ash and Dawn asked at the same time.

They pulled out two devices.

Red gaped, Green yelled out, Blue gasped and Yellow's eyes widened.

They were holding pokedexes.

The pokedex owners thought back to their dimension.

Team Rocket had stolen Red, Green and Blue's pokedexes once. Then they had replicated them, and created black pokedexes.

Sird, Orm, and Carr had pokedexes.

These mysterious kids had pokedexes.

No matter how weak they were, they could be part of Team Rocket. It was always better to be safe than sorry.

In two seconds, Blue had their pokedexes.

"How did you get these?" Blue asked, holding them high as Ash and Dawn jumped for them. She seemed to be enjoying herself.

"Professor Oak gave it to me!" Ash said.

Blue was astonished. She turned towards Green. He was staring at Ash, not believing what he'd just heard.

"You're… you're Team Rocket," she concluded. "There's no way… Professor Oak's here…"

She tossed the pokedexes to Green, and addressed Ash, Dawn and Brock.

"We're taking you to this world's jail. Then we can lock you up for a bit, while we find the rest of your Rocket buddies. We're not dragging you around on our search. If you guys also stole or replicated badges, we can convince the police to keep you for us."

Red and Yellow stared. That plan was very risky.

"I suppose that's own way to do it…" said Green, uncertainly.

Red nodded and picked up Ash and his pikachu in Aero's talons. He struggled and complained, but Red ignored him and took to the sky.

Green did the same with Dawn, who shrieked and flailed about. Green looked very annoyed, and took off after Red.

Yellow followed.

There was a bit of a silence as Blue turned towards Brock.

"You're coming too!" she announced, sending out Blasty and ordering an aerial hydro pump.

Brock didn't even complain, just looked at Blue with a mushy expression.

Blue scowled at him, then followed Red and Green into the sky.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello everybody! Once again, do not read this is you will be offended by me making fun of the anime. **

**Sorry this chapter's a little shorter than the last one. I hope you enjoy it anyway .**

**I am aware that Team Rocket changed their motto, but the old one is the one I remember, so I'm using it. Sorry.**

**And I still don't own pokemon.**

"Uurgh…" Gold pulled himself up. A wave of exhaustion washed over him, but he ignored it. Someone was standing near him.

"It's about time you woke up," said Silver nonchalantly. He was standing, and had his pokedex open in his palm.

"We're just outside a town called Sandalstraw," he announced, nodding towards a few buildings on the horizon.

"Weird," said Gold, staring at the buildings.

Crystal started to stir.

"Wh-where?" she asked, following Gold's eyes and looking at the town.

Silver tossed Crystal his pokedex.

"There's a lot of information there. I think we should research as much as we can before we decide what to do next," he said.

"Pokemon ping pong?" Asked Crystal, staring bewilderedly at the town's information.

Gold rolled his eyes.

"Wow, these people must have no social lives."

Silver ignored Gold and addressed Crystal.

"From this data, I am able to conclude that this world functions similarly to our own. It also has humans, pokemon, and the same general standard of living."

"But it's different," announced Gold. He stood up and leaned against his billiards cue to steady himself. "It feels like, the land of the fluffy bunearies or something."

Silver glared at Gold, and he shrunk back.

"This is nothing to joke about. Team Rocket sent us here. They could be coming back to finish us off at any point. We need to be on constant alert."

Crystal stood up and steadied herself. She handed Silver back his pokedex. There was a moment of silence.

"So what now?" she asked. "Do you think we should head for town or…"

"Yes!" Gold yelled. "It's no good just standing here talking!"

He released Ataro and jumped onto his skateboard. He wheeled away before his companions could protest.

They sighed and followed.

Gold burst through the edge of the city and raced through the crowd, much to the annoyance of the people around him. A chorus of "Hey! Watch where you're going!" rang all around him.

"_I'm going to kill Gold_," Crystal thought, standing at the edge of the crowd.

She reluctantly sent out her xatu, and quickly zoomed over the throng caught up to Gold.

Grabbing his arm, she stopped him in his tracks. He turned on a dime and managed to avoid falling.

"We-need-to-keep-a-low-profile!" she hissed.

Silver dropped from his murkrow and landed cleanly next to Gold and Crystal.

"There's a deserted alleyway just over there," he stated.

Crystal nodded. Gold looked longingly at a nearby food stand, then followed them into the alley. Silver stood ahead of the group and checked his pokedex again.

"Alright. We're just outside Sandalstraw Museum," he looked up at Gold. "And I recommend you stop acting stupid. We don't want to attract Team Rocket."

Gold sighed and leaned against the building.

"So what if Team Rocket appears? I'm ready to fight them! I want to get out of this creepy place!"

A silence hung over the group. They knew this was much easier said than done.

Suddenly, there was a blinding flash of light.

"What the…" Gold jumped up, facing the direction the light came from.

Crystal also jumped up and spun towards it, and Silver released sneasel out of instinct.

Two teenagers and a meowth appeared.

The boy had purple hair.

The girl had pink hair that stuck out at an impossible angle.

_Prepare for trouble!_

_Make it double!_

The Johto dex holders relaxed slightly. These people didn't seem to be anything to be afraid of.

_To protect the world from devastation!_

_To unite all people within our nation!_

Gold slumped against the building.

"All right, get on with it. What the **** do you want?" he paused. "Wait, what was that weird beeping noise?"

"You can't swear!" said the guy with purple hair. "4kids forbids it!"

"Don't interrupt our motto!" said the meowth.

"Your… your pokemon just talked!" Crystal said. "Who are you?"

The strangers ignored them, and continued.

_To denounce the evils of truth and love!_

_To extend our reach to the stars above!_

Gold looked slightly amused. Crystal just stared. Silver was getting very annoyed.

_Jessie!_

_James!_

_Team Rocke…_

Before they even finished their sentence, they were being held by Silver's pokemon.

Feraligatr had James, ursaring had Jessie, and sneasel was sitting on meowth.

"Let us goooo-ooo!" whined James.

"WHAT did you say your name was?" Silver growled.

"We're Team Rocket! And we came to steal your pokemon!" Announced Jessie.

"Well you're doing a pretty crummy job of it, huh?" asked Gold, raising one eyebrow.

Silver calmed himself down and turned towards the teens again.

"I've had enough bad experiences with people who claim to be Team Rocket. If you guys think you're cool or something by going around under that name…"

"But, we really are! Mr. Giovanni employed us!" Jessie said.

Crystal looked at Silver, worried. He was staring at Team Rocket again.

"How dare you poke fun at him like that? When… when he's in this state?" Silver said, turning away.

"Silver…" Gold said, quietly.

Silver just looked at him, then turned to face "Team Rocket" again.

All of a sudden, there were five pokemon facing the Johto trio.

"Team Rocket" had somehow managed to release their pokemon.

Gold and Crystal sent out Ataro and Hitmonee. The opponent's pokemon were defeated in less than four seconds.

"That was actually kind of pathetic," Gold announced, recalling Ataro.

There was a chorus of laughter that was probably intended to sound evil. Suddenly, a giant robot appeared out of nowhere. "Team Rocket" shook off Silver's pokemon and jumped into it.

"What! You were all just being held back by creatures at least double your weight!" Crystal shouted.

Jessie looked upset that they were not terrified at the genius of their plan.

"Yeah, well your hair defies gravity!" She yelled at Crystal.

Gold stared at Jessie's hair, then Crystal's. He shrugged.

"Enough talk! Time to steal your pokemon!" Called James.

He fiddled with some random controls inside the robot, then proceeded to chase Gold, Silver and Crystal.

Within three seconds, they all had out their flying pokemon, and were able to completely avoid the robot.

Crystal ordered Xatee to use confusion, and the giant robot faltered.

Gold's Mantaro quickly unleashed a water gun, and the robot crashed to the ground, narrowly avoiding the buildings around it.

The group recalled their flying pokemon, surprised at how easy it had been to stop the robot.

They jumped to the head of the machine, and pulled "Team Rocket" out of the wreckage.

Now Explotaro held James, Feraligatr had Jessie, and Mega took the meowth.

There was a moment of quiet as the dex holders stood across from "Team Rocket".

"Quick! Back to the balloon!" Shouted James.

"There's a balloon now too?" Crystal said, with exasperation.

"Team Rocket" leaped into a giant hot air balloon shaped like a meowth.

Gold and Crystal stared in disbelief.

"Gold, send out your politoed," called Silver.

Gold sent out Poltaro, confused.

"Okay… why?" he asked, turning towards Silver.

"Crystal, instruct your meganium to use frenzy plant," said Silver, ignoring Gold.

Silver readied his Feraligatr.

"Awww, let me help!" said Gold, recalling Poltaro and sending out Explotaro.

Before Silver could react, the three pokemon used the ultimate moves.

An ear-splitting bang exploded the balloon and blew up half of the building next to them.

"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" cried Jessie, James and meowth.

"What? Did you guys see that? They just paused in mid-air and…" Gold paused and looked at Silver and Crystal.

If looks could kill, Gold would definitely be dead.

"Wha… what's wrong?" He asked, a little afraid.

"You IDIOT, Gold! You recalled you politoed! I immediately observed that things explode in this world at points when they would not normally in ours. Now this building is ruined! Your politoed's damp ability could have prevented this!" Silver yelled.

Silver glared at Gold. He shrunk against the opposite building, apologising repeatedly.

Crystal just stared at the wreckage.

"Now we've done it…"


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello again! Thanks to everyone who gave me the awesome reviews! **

**Sorry this took so long -_-.**

**Don't read this is you will be offended by me making fun of the anime.**

**I don't own pokemon.**

Sapphire blinked awake. She immediately jumped to her feet. Her legs almost gave out, but she ignored it, and instinctively scampered up a tree.

"Where the heck…" she mumbled, looking at a city to her left.

It actually looked somewhat familiar.

It was almost like Petalburg City.

But it wasn't quite right. Buildings were moved around or added, and some scenery was missing. Yet the feeling of familiarity remained.

She frowned slightly, and jumped down to get a closer look.

Something rustled to her left. Her head whipped around and she sniffed the air. Friend or foe?

Ruby groaned and sat up. "Sa…Sapphire? Where… what's going on?"

Sapphire relaxed and turned back towards the city.

"There's a city over there. It looks almost like Petalburg, to me. I don't know. It's… different,"

Ruby looked confused. "Different… how?"

He jumped to his feet at a sudden noise to their right. Shuffling, then a bang, and muffled curse words.

Ruby and Sapphire looked nervously at the area the sound came from.

"Stupid shoemaker!" Said the familiar voice.

"Emerald! Over here!" Sapphire called.

The blond boy turned to face the other Hoenn pokedex owners.

"Hey guys! I knew you were somewhere around here! My pokedex's been beeping like crazy! Hold on a sec…"

Emerald took out his pokedex, and pressed a button. The beeping was immediately silenced.

It was eerily quiet.

"Well, um… I'm going to go see Petalburg city," said Ruby uncertainly, looking questioningly at Sapphire.

Sapphire nodded, and she and Emerald followed. The three of them peered through a couple of bushes at the strange city.

After a while, Ruby spoke.

"It does look like Petalburg," he said slowly.

"What now?" Asked Sapphire.

Emerald shrugged.

"We might as well go check it out."

Without a second thought, the tenth pokedex owner set off for the city.

Sapphire looked at Ruby nervously. If that _was_ Petalburg, then…

"We're in a whole other world," said Ruby, more to reassure himself then to voice his thoughts. "There's no way dad has a gym here."

He still did not follow Emerald.

"Come on," Said Sapphire, setting off toward their companion. Ruby reluctantly followed.

O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O

They found Emerald examining a signpost.

"Well that clears things up," he said blithely.

**Welcome to Petalburg City.**

**Gym leader- Norman**

Sapphire cleared her throat awkwardly.

Ruby looked shocked. The uncomfortable moment was interrupted by a voice to their left.

"That's so cyuuute! Are you guys all co-ordinators too?"

The Hoenn pokedex owners turned to look at the tactless stranger.

Sapphire jumped back and knocked over the signpost.

The girl looked almost exactly like her.

"That's creepy," said Emerald conversationally.

"You must be a huge fan!" squealed the girl. "You do such a good impersonation! Do you want an autograph or something?"

Sapphire looked severely annoyed.

"Who ARE you?"

The girl smiled.

"SOME people know ME as the PRIN-cess of Hoenn! But you can call me MAY!"

May's voice was patronising, and fluctuated annoyingly.

"Erm, I'm Sapphire, and that's Emerald and Ruby. And I'm not four years old, you know!" Said Sapphire, agitated. "And I am definitely NOT a co-ordinator! This is all a big misunderstanding…"

"O-kay! Well, it's nice to meet you, anyway!" May sang. "Have any of you ever been in a pokemon contest?"

Sapphire looked at Ruby, as if daring him to talk to this irksome stranger.

He couldn't help himself.

"I've won all of the ribbons where I come from!"

May squealed.

"We have to do a contest together sometime! I won ribbons in Hoenn, Johto, Kanto, two grand festivals, and the Wallace cup!"

"Um, right. Good for you, I think," Said Ruby uncertainly. She had just listed the regions they had in their world.

"There's actually a contest going on tomorrow, and it's just a couple towns away! I was just on my way there! It's going to be so much FUUUN!" She cried.

"I… I don't…" Ruby looked tempted.

"Well, if you want to try out contests in our region, you can come with me. We are friends now, after all!" May said.

She turned to Sapphire and Emerald, who both looked slightly creeped out.

"And YOU two?" Asked May, placing her hands on her hips and grinning at Sapphire and Emerald.

"Stop talking to us like little kids! We're older than you!" Emerald growled.

"Anyway, we have to go," Said Sapphire, grabbing Ruby's arm.

May looked slightly disappointed, yet still eerily happy.

"Okay, well, if you're heading in to Petalburg, could you tell my parents where I'm going to be? I live up at the gym, it's not easy to miss."

"The gym?" asked Ruby, a little afraid.

"Yeah! Norman is my dad!" Said May.

Ruby was completely shocked.

"Don't worry! He's really nice! And he's used to challengers, so it's not like you'll be disturbing him or anything," Said May, completely misreading Ruby's surprise.

"I don't think going to the gym is the best idea at the moment," said Sapphire, taking charge. "Sorry, but you'll have to find someone else. We've got some very important stuff to do."

Ruby looked grateful. Emerald continued to stare at May.

"Okay, bye guys!" Chirped May. "Can I just have a word, Sapphire?"

Sapphire looked startled. The other two looked nervous.

Sapphire nodded to them, and they started to walk away, a little unsure.

There was a small silence, in which Sapphire stared at May, and May smiled widely.

"You guys are so cute!" She said finally.

"Pardon?" Asked Sapphire, raising an eyebrow.

"You and Ruubby!"

May was bouncing with excitement.

"WHAT? How… I mean… why… you can't… honestly…" Sapphire babbled.

"You should tell him how you feel!" Said May, blushing gleefully.

"That… that's not… you… I mean… how…" Sapphire was speechless, probably for the first time in her life.

"Oh, that's okay," said May. "Unless you want me to help you impress him! Let's see… he likes contests, right? What do your pokemon look like?"

Without a second thought, May released Sapphire's Blaziken, Toro.

"Hey! Don't…" Sapphire was on the verge of snapping.

"Aww, it's kind of cute!" She said. "I used to have a Baziken!"

"What happened to it?" Asked Sapphire, desperately trying to lead the conversation elsewhere.

"No one knows!" Said May, cheerfully.

Sapphire blinked.

"Um, anyway, I'd better go catch up to… Emerald. Okay, bye," She returned her Toro to its pokeball, then started to quickly walk away.

May smiled after her.

"Aaah, young love is so cute. Okay fine, but…"

May stopped Sapphire one last time. She handed her a paper with her phone number on it.

"If you need anything at all, you can call me on my pokenav." May said.

Sapphire stuffed it into her pocket. Not likely.

"Bye-byeee!" Called May, as Sapphire took off running.

"She is so ANNOYING!" Screamed Sapphire, to no one in particular.

O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O

Sapphire finally caught up to the others just on the outskirts of the city.

Ruby looked apprehensive, but Emerald had on a mischievous look that definitely meant he was up to something.

"This. Is. So. PERFECT!" He announced.

"What? How is any of this _perfect?_" Sapphire asked. "Team Rocket sent us to some creepy dimension full of weirdos and you think this is _perfect?_"

"Look," said Emerald, completely unfazed. "That May person looks exactly like you, Sapphire. And she's out of town for a day or so. We need time to think of a plan, and it would be nice to have some food, too. So all we have to do is go up to the gym, say that you're May and we're some new friends or something, and they'll let us stay over!"

Sapphire wasn't so sure about this plan. And she could tell Ruby wasn't, either.

"There's nothing to be afraid of. Honestly, nobody will be able to tell the difference. Just don't talk, or they'll see your fangs."

"What's THAT supposed ta mean?" Yelled Sapphire.

"Nothing… nothing," Emerald said. "Just don't talk!"

He pulled Ruby over by the elbow.

"Ruby and I will cover for you!"

Ruby had a crooked expression on his face.

"What could possibly go wrong?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi! Thanks again for the reviews!**

**My brother pointed out that "O0O0O0O0O0O0O0" looks like someone's making gorilla noises or something. **

**Just to clarify, that's a page break type thing to signify time passing. Sorry about that, haha, nothing else would show up.**

**Also, very sorry this took so long again. I'll seriously try to get the next one up sooner. I'm just an awful procrastinator.**

**I don't own pokemon.**

Pearl gasped for breath, coughing violently.

"Uuurgh, where are we?"

"In some sort of pond. In shallow water. There's land just over there."

Platina seemed calm and composed, even after everything that had happened.

Pearl sat up and his muscles quivered. He shook it off and crawled over to Platina, wringing out his scarf.

"Is Dia here?"

Platina said nothing, and stared into the distance.

"Umm, right. DIA! DIIAAA!" Pearl called.

His voice echoed for a few seconds.

"Urk… my food's getting all soggy…" mumbled a weak voice to their left.

Dia was huddled over a small stash of food, his hat dripping and hanging over his eyes.

Pearl looked relieved. He stood up and addressed his companions.

"Okay, so we're all here. Now let's go find out where we are."

He stepped out from the pond, and shaded his eyes from the sun as he glanced around at their surroundings.

They were in some sort of forest, and a nearby clearing showed the lights of some kind of city.

"Alright! There's a city just over there," He declared.

Dia stood up shakily, then went over to help Platina.

"Um, Pearl, I don't know if we should just go marching out there," He said, pulling Platina to her feet. "We don't know anything about this place. It could be dangerous…"

Pearl whirled around.

"Dia… no, I mean Diamond!"

He put his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"How can you ever expect to learn anything or gather information by just sitting there? We need to do something, don't we? And if…"

"Pearl, I do believe you still have your chatot in your possession?" Interrupted Platina.

"Huh? Um… yeah. It's right here," replied Pearl, holding up a pokeball, confused.

"Well, if you ask it to fly up and view our surroundings, I think that it can better assess our situation," She said.

It was more of a suggestion than an order, but Pearl felt that he had to obey, somehow. He nodded and sent out his Chahiko. The bird pokemon took to the skies, and the trio watched uncertainly as it flew off.

Platina pulled out her pokedex and turned on the location feature.

"We're on the outskirts of a place called 'Rubello Town'" She announced, looking at her pokedex, puzzled. "And it says here that it contains many of the same things we have in our world. Houses, buildings, restaurants… there's even a contest hall!"

Pearl and Dia looked at each other, slightly worried. Did that mean it was safe to go, or…

Platina studied her pokedex, continuing to gather information.

There was a silence.

"Restaurants?" Asked Dia, finally breaking the silence.

Pearl was about to say something back, but he was, again, interrupted by Platina.

"Chatot should be returning soon," She commented, closing her pokedex.

As if on cue, the pokemon appeared over the treetops.

"CHAHIKO!" Pearl called, waving down his pokemon.

The chatot flew several corkscrews through the air, then spiralled down onto Pearl's shoulder.

"Town. Town! Follow! Follow!" The pokemon chirped. It opened its wings once more and gracefully took to the skies.

Dia looked at Pearl, waiting for him to take charge.

"It'll be fine! Come on," Pearl said, taking the lead.

Dia nodded, and he and Platina took off after their friend.

O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O

"It looks almost exactly the same!" Said Pearl, astonished. "It's got pokemon and everything… just like our world!"

The trio had just entered the city, and was surveying their surroundings carefully.

"It just… feels different somehow," stated Platina, glancing around.

There was silence again as the three thought about their next step.

"I was thinking…" said Platina. "We really have no idea how this world functions. I believe that before taking any actions, we should get our bearings. I suggest we go to a highly populated place and observe the behavioral characteristics of the people. Then we should seek out our seniors and apprehend the team that sent us here."

The other two blinked. That was a lot of big words.

"Where shouf wef go?" Asked Dia, with a mouthful of food.

"DIA! That food's dirty!" Pearl yelled.

"How about the contest house?" Asked Platina, before the fight could escalate.

She gestured towards a giant, decorated building at the edge of the town.

"It seems like a popular attraction."

Pearl and Dia nodded, and they all stood up and headed towards the contest hall.

O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O

"So… uh, have you figured anything out yet?" asked Pearl, watching as Platina stared calculatingly at passersby.

"They appear to be quite similar to those of our world. Except…" Platina faded off.

"Except what?" Said Dia, staring longingly at a nearby food stand as he talked.

"Judging from their social and conversational habits, I can conclude that they seem to have a smaller brain capacity. It's like… they all talk about the strangest things…" She faded off again.

They waited for a couple more minutes, as Platina observed the people around them.

"Alright, well, I think we know enough now. So… now what?" Asked Pearl impatiently.

"Well, the next step would be to either find our seniors or seek out Team Rocket," stated Platina.

"Are their any next steps that involve food?" asked Dia hopefully.

Pearl tried his best to ignore this question.

"I say we ask around, to see if anyone has seen our seniors," He said, glancing at nearby trainers.

Platina nodded, and they followed her up to the main desk. A very over-excited nurse with pink hair waltzed up to them.

"HEL-LO!" She cried.

"Um… hi." Said Pearl. "We're actually looking for a couple of people. Have you seen… uh… wait…"

Pearl rummaged through his backpack and pulled out an old picture of all of the dex holders. He tossed it down onto the counter.

"Have you seen any of these people?" He asked.

"YEEESSS!" Said the nurse, pointing to the bottom left corner. "SHE'S ENTERED IN OUR CONTEST TODAY!"

"Wha… Sapphire?" Asked Pearl uncertainly.

"YEEESSS!" Said the nurse again, smiling widely. "THE CONTEST ENDS IN TWELVE MINUTES!"

"Oh… okay. I guess we'll just wait here, then," said Pearl, taking back the picture and standing outside the contest doors.

"GLAD I COULD HELP!" She called.

Dia and Platina blinked. Pearl looked worriedly back at the nurse. He mentally shook himself.

"Dia! Now's the perfect time for a manzai!" He announced. "Stop looking at that food stand!"

"When you think of pokemon!"

"When you think of pokemon!"

"You think of our seniors!" Said Pearl.

"You don't say," said Dia.

"For example, Sapphire!" Said Pearl. "She conquered all of the gyms in Hoenn! That means she beat Roxanne, Brawley, Wattson…"

"But Watts up with her entering a contest?" Asked Dia.

"I said WATTSON!" Yelled Pearl, whacking Dia.

Platina checked her poketch.

"They should be coming out at any moment now," she remarked.

At that very moment, the doors flew open and the crowds poured out. After much pushing and fighting their way around random trainers, they saw Sapphire walk out of the doors.

"Hey!" shouted Pearl, waving his arms.

Sapphire appeared confused until she caught sight of Platina.

"DAWN?" She cried, rushing over to them.

Platina looked around, then realized she was pretty much the only one standing there.

"Um… no. Platina," She said.

Sapphire didn't appear to have heard her.

"OH DaWN It'S sO gOOd TO SEE You!" she trilled. "Where's Ash?"

Platina stared at her.

"Oh well! He'll turn up sooner or later!" She cried. "So how many RIBBONS do you have?"

"One," stated Platina. "That's also something I was wondering. Why have you come to this world only to enter a contest? I thought you disliked contests?"

Suddenly, Sapphire burst into intense laughter.

"Uh, what are you laughing about?" Asked Pearl.

"I'M JUST SO HAPPY!" She cried.

"Erm… okay? Um… as I said before… about the contests…" started Platina.

Again, Sapphire seemed to not have heard a word they said. She interrupted them suddenly.

"I CAN HELP YOU IMPROVE YOUR SKILLS!" She squealed. "Of course, I was once just a regular trainer like you. And now, they know me and the PRIN-cess of Hoenn!"

At this, she dramatically released her pokemon in a puff of smoke.

"Riiight…" Said Pearl. "Could you just… uh… give us a minute?"

He steered Dia and Platina away to the other end of the room, and left Sapphire grinning after them.

The three huddled together.

"Something's wrong," Pearl declared. "She's acting really weird."

"Yeah… I thought she was supposed to hate contests? And be, like, all tough and everything…" Said Dia, glancing back at Sapphire.

She was still smiling at them. It was severely creepy.

"I think something must have happened on her journey here," said Platina conclusively. "A head injury, or something of the sort."

Pearl and Dia nodded. It made a lot more sense.

"So… we came here looking for help from our senior, and now _we've _got to help _her_?" Asked Pearl.

"We can't just leave her here," said Platina. "I suggest we take her with us to find the others."

Pearl sighed. He put on a fake smile and trotted back over to Sapphire.

"So… um… we were thinking…" he started.

"SAY NO MORE!" Sapphire said, excited. "You want me to help you prepare for a contest!"

She smiled even harder as she glanced at all of them.

"Umm… no, actually…" Dia started.

"I'LL BE, LIKE, YOUR TEACHER!" She squealed.

Pearl winced.

"But…"

"No, really! I met some new friends earlier today who will be happy to help, too! Come on! You can all stay at my house!" She cried.

And with that, she turned towards the door.

"Aah! Wait! Sapph…"

But before Dia had finished, Sapphire put her arm around Platina's shoulder and led her out the door.

"I'm going to teach you all about contests!" She said. "We're going to be BEST FRIENDS."

Yeah, I pretty much fail at manzai XD. But I had to think of something, so… um yeah. Puns are not my strength.


	5. Chapter 5

**I still don't own pokemon.**

"Alright guys, descend!" called Green. "We're here!"

After a couple laps of the city, the four eldest dex holders had finally found the Sandalstraw police station.

Yellow returned to the ground gently, brushing her feet against the dewy grass. She returned Kitty to its pokeball and clipped it to her belt.

The other three followed gracefully. Green released Rhydon and Scizor, and kept Ash and Dawn under close watch. Brock remained pinned to Blasty.

They entered the police station and stood in the main foyer, waiting for someone to notice them.

"What is with people and blue hair?" Whispered Blue to no one in particular as the police officer walked in.

At that very second, Brock was at the officer's heels, reciting another stupid and embarrassing love confession.

"What? But you were just…" Blue pointed to Blasty, then to Brock, then back, exasperated.

"Nothing makes sense in this world," Said Red, hopelessly.

The officer was politely trying to get Brock off her, when suddenly three familiar faces walked in from outside, handcuffed.

"Aah! Gold! Silver! Crystal!" Cried Yellow, wheeling around to look at them.

"Oh, hi guys!" Said Gold. "Good to see someone who's slightly sane!"

"What are you doing here?" Asked Red, glancing at the handcuffs.

Gold grinned.

"We were arrested!" he said proudly, giving the thumbs-up.

"It was Gold's fault," Spat Silver and Chris at the same time.

Blue walked up and pulled on Silver's sleeve. She turned to the accompanying officer.

"Please, don't take them in! Whatever they did, we can bail them out, or…"

The Blue-haired police officer stopped them.

"Well, I suppose I can question all of you at once, since you all seem to know each other," she said, looking at the pokedex owners.

Green looked disgusted at how unprofessional she was being.

"Please return your pokemon," she said.

The Kanto trainers recalled their pokemon and put them away.

Officer Jenny led all ten of them into a back room. There were only three chairs.

Gold immediately took a chair, followed by Ash and Dawn. The other seven were forced to squish wall-to-wall at the back.

"All right… um," said Officer Jenny, looking around at her desk. She seemed like she really had no idea what she was doing. She grabbed a random stack of papers and a pen.

"First I'll take your information!" She said, deciding on something completely random. "I'll need name, age, birthday, and hometown! You start!" She pointed at Red.

"Um… Red, 19, 8 August, Pallet Town?" He said, hoping there was a Pallet Town somewhere in this world.

"YOU'RE FROM PALLET TOWN TOO?" Ash cried.

"Please be quiet during questioning," said the officer. "Next?"

Green, Blue, and Yellow relayed their information. With each announcement, Ash's eyes grew dramatically wider.

"You're all from my area!" he exclaimed. "But I've never seen any of you before!"

"Thank goodness…" muttered Blue.

"Shut up!" called the police officer.

"No swearing!" cried Ash. "4kids forbids it!"

"You're right! I'm sorry," said the officer. "Moving on…" she nodded at Silver.

"Silver… 16… December 24th… Viridian city."

The officer marked it down.

"Crystal, 16, April 30th, and… what was the other one? Ah, yes Violet City," stated Crystal.

The officer marked that down, too.

"Alright, you?" asked the officer, pointing her pen at Gold.

Gold looked up.

"Ah, sorry, what?"

The officer looked annoyed.

"Name, age, birthdate, hometown… weren't you paying attention?" She asked.

"Er, no… actually I was trying to figure out why you photoshopped your head onto this picture twenty-eight times. You must have a lot of spare time!" exclaimed Gold, rocking on the chair.

The officer picked up the picture he was looking at, and cradled it nostalgically.

"This is me and all of my relatives! There are twenty-eight Officer Jennys in this region alone!" she cried.

"Okaaay… Sure," said Gold, raising an eyebrow. "Anyway… what was it again? Erm… Gold, and I'm 16. That's since July 21st. And I'm from New Bark town."

Officer Jenny wrote it down.

"And you three?" she gestured to Dawn, Ash and Brock.

Silver looked questioningly at Blue.

She shrugged in response.

"Dawn! Ten! Undetermined! Twinleaf!" Exclaimed Dawn, dramatically.

Officer Jenny wrote it down.

"And you?" she asked, pointing her pen at Brock.

Gold placed his chair on four legs.

"What? You're just going to let her… ONE OF HER ANSWERS WAS 'UNDETERMINED'!" he cried.

They continued on like no one said anything.

"Brock! Not applicable! Not applicable! Pewter City!" he called.

Officer Jenny marked it down casually.

Five people looked at her in disbelief. Two people death glared. Silver completely out-glared Green.

"Ash Ketchum, FUTURE POKEMON MASTER! Ten! Ummm… what was the next question?" He asked, glancing at Officer Jenny.

"Birthday?" said Officer Jenny slowly.

"Uhhh…" Ash seemed to be thinking very hard. This did not suit him.

"How long have you been ten?" Officer Jenny prompted.

"Ten years!" Said Ash enthusiastically.

Chris and Yellow, who had been standing somewhat close to Ash, immediately took three backwards steps away.

"AND I'M FROM PALLET TOWN!" Ash declared.

Green spoke up.

"Okay, look. These three have been taken in for suspected stealing and probable involvement with a team of criminals who have been committing crimes non-stop for a long time. Please listen to our case."

"I'LL do the talking here!" announced Officer Jenny. She silently looked around the room, eyes narrowed. Then she grinned.

"Well, it looks like you guys really are innocent, so I'll just let you go!" she said.

The dex holders blinked in astonishment. Green looked outraged.

"Excuse me?" he said.

"Case dismissed," said Officer Jenny with a wave of her hand. "Now Ash, Brock, and Dawn can go. I'm going to keep the rest of you here for questioning about the destruction of the Sandalstraw museum."

Ash, Brock and Dawn got ready to leave.

"It wasn't our fault!" Gold burst out. "These three idiots appeared and recited some dumb practised thingey, and there was, like, this robot thing, and… this all sounds completely ridiculous…"

Ash immediately stopped in his tracks, whirling around in the doorway.

"TEAM ROCKET!" He yelled.

Red turned to look at him, slightly surprised.

"Do you know something about Team Rocket?"

"Ah, no. They were definitely NOT Team Rocket," said Gold, addressing Red.

He raised his voice and started talking to Ash, as if he was talking to someone very slow. In fact, he was.

"YOU. KNOW. THOSE. PEOPLE?" he asked.

"Uhh… yeah," said Ash.

Gold continued.

"ONE. BOY. PURPLE. HAIR. TALKING POKEMON. ONE. GIRL. PINK. HAIR," he mimed crazy hair. "GRAVITY. DEFYING. HAIR?"

"Gold, he's right there. What are you doing?" Asked Chris.

"Meh, kicks," said Gold.

Ash looked at Gold again.

"Team Rocket has been following us forever, trying to steal my pikachu!" He narrowed his eyes, and clenched his hands dramatically. "They're the lowest of bad guys! They're just… soooo… evil… more than you could ever imagine…"

Blue and Silver exchanged glances.

Officer Jenny slammed her hand on the desk, making them all jump.

"It's settled then! As punishment, you all must travel together with Ash and his friends and apprehend Team Rocket! Think of it as community service!"

Ash beamed at the thought of new friends.

"This justice system is so corrupt," sighed Gold, resuming rocking on his chair.

Green glared at Officer Jenny. Red's mouth fell open. Blue's eyes widened and she looked at Silver.

He was banging his head on the wall.


	6. Chapter 6

**Everyone thanks so much for the awesome reviews! I really, really appreciate it!**

**I don't own pokemon.**

"Is that the gym?" whispered Ruby, looking slightly sick.

"I guess so," Said Sapphire gazing up at the gigantic building.

Emerald looked impatient.

"Why are we all sitting in a bush?"

Ruby and Sapphire ignored him.

"Who's that?" whispered Ruby, shifting to get a better view.

A young boy walked out of the gym and sat on the steps, reading a book.

"I repeat," repeated Emerald. "Why are we sitting in a bush?"

"Okay, fine. Emerald's right," Sapphire started. "Let's go up to the gym and at least say…"

"NO," said Emerald firmly. "We've gone over this before. NO. TALKING."

Sapphire rolled her eyes and shut her mouth. She gracefully jumped from the bush to a branch of a nearby tree, and swung herself down onto the steps.

Ruby and Emerald ran after her, taking the normal human route.

The boy on the steps glanced up.

"Oh, May! You're back! Good! And…" his gaze swept over Ruby and Emerald. "You brought new friends?"

He sounded way too excited.

"Yeah, I'm Emerald and this is Ruby! We were wondering if…"

"Say no more!" The boy interrupted. "You're gym challengers! My dad's the best!"

Ruby turned slightly pink.

"No, we're DEFINITELY not…"

"Come on in! I'm Max, by the way!" said Max, opening the door to the gym and heading in without a backward glance.

"This was YOUR idea, Emerald," Sapphire whispered angrily, following Max up the steps.

Emerald started after her, dragging Ruby by the arm.

Max stopped suddenly, turning to face them.

"It's funny though. I've never SEEN you guys before. I mean, I've watched all of the battles that have taken place on T.V, I even saved all the tapes. You'd think anyone wanting to challenge MY dad…" Ruby winced. Max continued, completely oblivious. "None of you must be very good. Anyway…"

Max walked through the house, calling his father's name. The Hoenn trio stayed close behind him. Emerald looked furious that Max suggested he "wasn't very good". Sapphire was hoping desperately that Norman wasn't there. Her disguise seemed to have fooled Max, but she doubted it would work on everyone. Also, it kind of looked like Ruby would throw up if Norman showed up.

"DAAAAAAAD!" yelled Max again, making Ruby wince for the fourteenth time. "Hmm, I don't think he's here. Maybe we should just go wait in the kitchen."

The pokedex owners sighed in relief and followed Max to the kitchen.

"Dad should get back later on. But for now…" Max's eyes lit up. "Can I see your POKEMON?"

"NO you may n…" Emerald barked, but it was too late. Max grabbed Ruby's bag and released his Coco.

"WWOOOOOOWWW! A Delcatty! I've seen these in the Grand Festival before!" Said Max, pulling it into a tight hug.

The pokemon didn't seem too pleased about this, and Ruby looked like he was about to tell Max off.

Emerald ignored this and addressed Max.

"Don't you have any pokemon?"

"No," Max sighed. "You have to be ten to get your first pokemon."

Ruby and Sapphire exchanged quizzical looks.

"How old are you, Max?" Asked Ruby, speaking for the first time since he entered the house.

"Eight. And it doesn't look like I'm going to be nine anytime soon…" He said mysteriously.

"Right…" Said Ruby.

There was an awkward silence as Ruby wrenched Coco from Max's arms and frantically brushed its fur flat again.

"So, do you know where mom might be, May?" Asked Max, glancing around.

Sapphire then pretended to have a convenient coughing fit, as Emerald started to say, "I'll go look for her!"

At that very second, a woman walked into the room.

"Hey mom!" said Max, running up to her.

Ruby stubbornly avoided her eyes.

"Hello! Are these new friends, May? How charming!" She sang. "Why don't you all join us for lunch?"

"Okay!" Said Emerald, before anyone could object.

The woman chuckled, smiling warmly at Emerald. He recoiled a bit.

"I'm Caroline, by the way. I see you've already met Max."

"I'm Emerald, and that's Ruby," said Emerald hesitantly.

"Norman should be joining us soon, he's just gone to the market for a bit. Why don't you show your friends around the house, May?"

Sapphire nodded eagerly, and pulled the other two upstairs before they could say a word.

O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O

"This family dynamic is CREEPY," fumed Sapphire, pacing around May's room. "NOBODY is this perfect!"

Ruby and Emerald were sitting on the bed, waiting for her to finish.

"And WHO keeps their room this neat? And who can STAND this much fluffy stuff?" she picked up a stuffed torchic like it was going to bite her.

"It's not very tasteful," Ruby agreed. "It desperately needs a bit of livening up…"

There was a knock at the door. Sapphire dropped the torchic and shut her mouth.

Caroline opened the door, smiling brightly at them.

"Do you want sandwiches, rice balls, or donuts?" she asked.

"Um… sandwiches," Said Emerald randomly.

"Lunch will be in ten minutes, then," she announced, grinning wider and closing the door.

Sapphire waited a few seconds before speaking again.

"Okay, Emerald, this was a dumb idea. Lets go."

"And do what?" Asked Emerald. "Personally, I think a sandwich sounds really good right now."

"We could… we could…" Sapphire desperately tried to think of something, ANYTHING else.

"We could probably look for the others," suggested Ruby. "Our seniors have dealt with Team Rocket before. And, hey, our juniors have had a run-in with Giratina in the past. We're the only ones who have _absolutely _no clue what's going on."

He turned to Emerald.

"You can't tell me you honestly _want _to stay here?"

"Pffft, of course not," Said Emerald. "I kind of want to wring that little kid's neck. But I do like food, and they don't seem to suspect anything…"

"Lunch is readddyyyy!" Called Caroline from down the stairs. "And dad's hoooomee!"

Sapphire sighed and helped Emerald drag Ruby down the stairs. They settled in at the table.

As Caroline plopped rice balls on all of their plates, Ruby dared to look up at Norman.

The resemblance was similar to that of May and Sapphire.

If he hadn't known his dad well, he might have said they were the same person. However, this world's Norman had rounder eyes, a softer expression, and an overall lovable appearance. His look seemed to sharply contrast that of Ruby's dad, who was battle-worn and tough, even formidable.

They were definitely different. Ruby sighed as he gazed across the table. It was still a little weird, though.

"So, are you boys going to take on the gym challenge?" Asked Norman merrily.

"We were thinking about it," said Emerald innocently. "I don't know if we're going to after all, though. Seeing the gym leader himself is making me a little nervous."

Emerald was up to something. Ruby and Sapphire could detect it a mile away.

"So are you two travelers?" Asked Caroline cheerfully.

"I remember when I was a traveler!" Max interrupted again. "It was so cool! I got to see so much stuff I'd only ever read about! Of course, the people I was travelling with were really impressive! I don't think you could ever compare to them!"

Emerald withheld to urge to inflict harm upon Max, and forced out a smile instead.

"That sounds really cool! No, Ruby and I were just passing through here. We wanted to take a couple gym challenges, but I don't think Norman is really the place we should start."

"Ahaha, you flatter me!" Norman said. "I'm sure if you boys just try hard and believe in yourselves, you can accomplish anything!"

"You really think so?" Asked Emerald.

"Of course! Let's see… what kind of pokemon do you have?" Asked Norman, smiling brightly.

"Mostly ghost types… that'll be okay, right?" Asked Emerald.

This was an outright lie. Ruby shot him a questioning look, but Sapphire appeared to be catching on. She nodded eagerly.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry Emerald, but ghost types aren't the best to use against my normal types. Perhaps you should start at a different gym."

Emerald pretended to look sad.

"Oh man… my mom said that we have to get back home soon, and the gym leaders haven't been home at every gym we've gone to so far…"

Norman placed a sympathetic hand on Emerald's shoulder.

"There, there son. I'm sure you'll get to fight one soon. Actually…" Norman looked as if he'd just gotten a brilliant idea. "I'm in contact with all of the gym leaders in this region. If you'd like, I can send them all a message that says there's an eager young challenger here. Some of them just might be willing to set up a battle!"

Emerald put on a face like this was the best thing anyone could have possibly done for him.

"You'd do that for me?" He asked. "Thank you soooo much! Just tell them that my name is Emerald, and be sure to mention Ruby's with me too!"

Caroline chuckled for no apparent reason.

"There's Roxanne, Brawly, Wattson, Flannery, Winona, Tate, Liza, and Wallace! I've met them all on my travels! They won't lose to you easily!" said Max matter-of-factly.

Emerald's smile turned momentarily into a grimace at Max's comment, then quickly righted it again.

Ruby and Sapphire exchanged a surprised look. All of the gym leaders were the same as in their Hoenn.

"They do sound tough! We'd better go out and train then. And we'd better set up camp before it gets dark…" Started Emerald.

"You can stay here for the night!" Said Norman pleasantly. "At least until the gym leaders respond!"

"Thank you!" Said Emerald finishing his rice ball. "May, can you show us the gym?"

Sapphire nodded and finished off her lunch. The three quickly headed away from the table, and down to the gym area.

"That was GENIUS!" Said Sapphire excitedly.

"I know," Said Emerald, chuckling slightly at his own greatness.

"I don't get it," Said Ruby. "How will contacting all of the gym leaders help our situation at all?"

"Contacting the gym leaders will get our name in the public eye," Said Sapphire. "That boy Max said that battles appear on T.V a lot, so that means the gym leaders are in the press. So if there's even a mention of our name at any point…"

"It might reach the others!" Finished Ruby. "That IS genius!"

"I know," said Emerald again. "I managed to get us a place to stay for the night, too."

Sapphire smiled.

"Ruby gets May's room."

"But… but… Emerald and I are the guests!" Complained Ruby.

"Ah well. At least we've got somewhere safe to stay away from Team Rocket," Said Sapphire. "Even if it is a little… weird."

"Now say it. 'Emerald, you are the best, smartest person I know'. Go on." Said Emerald.

"I'm not saying that," said Ruby.


	7. Chapter 7

**So yeah. Ash is apparently travelling with some person from black and white now. And the manga's first couple black and white chapters came out as well. Let's just pretend, for the sake of this fanfiction, that none of this ever happened.**

**I don't own pokemon. That would be pretty awesome, though.**

"AFTER THE BRIEF MISUNDERSTANDING WITH OFFICER JENNY, OUR HEROES SET OFF DARINGLY TO FIND TEAM ROCKET, AND APPREHEND THEM ONCE AND FOR ALL. WHAT AWAITS OUR BRAVE YOUNG HEROES IN ETERNA CITY?"

"Okay, seriously, who _is _that?" Gold asked, scanning the sky.

"That's just the narrator!" said Ash merrily, continuing to walk towards Eterna City.

"Does he _have _to announce our presence _whenever _we pass _any _town?" Gold stressed, still searching for the unseen voice.

"You get used to it!" Ash said cheerfully. "It helps remind us what we're doing when we forget!"

Gold sighed and fell into step beside Crystal again. The seven eldest pokedex owners had been walking behind their strange hosts all day.

With nothing to discuss in the presence of these suspicious people, awkward silence had enveloped the day. The only person they had heard since Sandalstraw was the annoying mystery voice, bellowing about their "adventures" every fifteen minutes.

It was starting to get on Gold's nerves.

"What are we looking for anyway?" he asked.

"Nothing really," said Ash pleasantly. "Team Rocket always just kind of shows up."

"What!" blurted Crystal. "We've been travelling for hours now with no actual destination in mind?"

"Nope!" Said Ash. "Of course, we might meet some random person with a pokemon I've never seen before and some kind of trouble along the way, so it's all worth it in the end."

As if on cue, a random girl came running up to Ash.

"Someone help me!" she cried, sinking to her knees. "Someone took my pokemon! My beloved shinx! I miss it soooo much!"

"Oh no!" Cried Ash, getting into a fighting stance with his fists raised.

Yellow stepped forward and helped the girl up, concern in her eyes.

"Where was it last?" She asked.

The girl wiped away a tear. "I was playing with it in the forest when these weird people in scary-looking cars came up! And they said my shinx was rare and… and there was a high demand for it in the black market…"

The girl burst into tears.

Dawn, Brock and Ash gasped dramatically.

"It's must be Hunter J!" cried Dawn.

"She's so evil!" Brock declared.

"She's always stealing pokemon! She tried to get my pikachu once!" said Ash. "She thinks she's so special! She's just a… a…"

He appeared to be wracking his brains for the worst insult possible.

"A MEANIE!" Ash declared, satisfied.

"She has tons of goons underneath her, too!" Dawn shouted.

"All they care about is money!" Brock announced.

"WE GET IT!" Said Green. "This person's pokemon was taken! Stop talking and do something!"

"Did you see which way they went?" Red asked kindly.

The girl sniffled and nodded."They went towards Mt. Coronet."

The pokedex owners took off towards the mountain, with Ash, Dawn, and Brock panting behind.

_IT'S ABOUT YOU_

_IT'S ABOUT ME_

_IT'S ABOUT HOPE_

_IT'S ABOUT DREAMS_

_IT'S ABOUT FRIENDS THAT WORK TOGETHER TO CLAIM THEIR DESTINY!_

_IT'S ABOUT REACHING FOR THE SKY!_

_HAVING THE COURAGE, AND WILLING TO TRY!_

_IT'S ABOUT NEVER GIVING UP, SO HOLD YOUR HEAD UP_

_AND WE WILL CARRY ON_

_SINNOH LEAGUE VICTORS! POKEMON!_

"Okay, are there any more messed up things about this world that you would care to point out?" asked Gold, stopping Ash in the road.

He had already decided it didn't matter if they gave themselves away to Ash. He clearly wasn't a threat.

The other pokedex owners had stopped too, baffled as to what had just happened.

"Other than the theme song and the narrator, you mean?" Asked Ash.

"And the lack of physics," said Crystal. "Don't forget that."

"Oh, right. Well, we used to have 'who's that pokemon', but they kind of gave up on that."

"What was that that just happened?" Asked Red, bewildered.

"The theme song! Opening 13!" Said Ash again.

"Why… why were you guys just standing there as all of those legendary pokemon danced around you?" Asked Crystal. "Why wouldn't you try to catch them?"

"It's just the opening, silly!" Said Ash, chuckling slightly. "It always has to be way more exciting than the show itself. That's how it works!"

The dex holders stared at Ash blankly, severely confused.

"Anyway, we need to find that person's shinx," Blue reminded them.

The dex holders shook themselves out of their stupor.

"I say we should take out our flying pokemon and scan the mountain," suggested Silver.

"But… but… Dawn and Brock and I can't fly on our pokemon!" Ash announced.

Green sighed. "Okay, so… what do you guys suggest?"

"Well, we can't split up," said Ash. "I don't want any of my friends to be left alone with the bad guys!"

"Then I suppose we're going to just walk around with no plan whatsoever," said Green mockingly.

Ash nodded and started walking towards the mountain.

"I was kidding!" Green called.

O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O

"They're up ahead! That's their cars!" Ash whispered, ducking behind a bush.

Brock and Dawn followed, peering through gaps in the foliage.

The dex holders stood there awkwardly. There wasn't nearly enough room in the bush for all of them, and they figured they'd have to fight these people anyway at some point.

As if making a suggestion, Red half-heartedly took out a pokeball.

"Hey! Who are you kids!" Called a man with a rough voice.

He had just stepped out of one of the cars, and had noticed the trainers standing in the distance. He released a golbat, and the dex holders immediately seized the opportunity to attack.

Unfortunately, Dawn, Brock, and Ash decided to attack at the same time.

"GIVE THAT SHINX BACK, HUNTER J!" cried Dawn, releasing her piplup.

"WE WON'T LET YOU HURT ANY MORE POKEMON!" screamed Ash, sending forth pikachu.

Ash's pikachu somehow reached the golbat first, releasing a blast of electricity.

Crystal twitched slightly as physics were disobeyed yet again, and the golbat somehow managed to dodge the lightning, travelling faster than it and slamming into Ash's pikachu.

Red's Pika reached the golbat next, taking position and getting ready to attack it.

"NO! WAIT!" Ash cried. "YOU MIGHT HIT PIKACHU!"

Surely enough, his pikachu was in golbat's claws, limp and hurt.

The dex holders' pokemon skidded to halts, restlessly awaiting instructions.

"This is a battle! Recall your pikachu so Red can attack!" Called Silver.

"But… PIKACHU DOESN'T LIKE THE POKEBALL!" Ash whined.

At that moment, the golbat was hit from above by Gold's togepi, slamming it into the ground and fainting it.

"Erm… problem solved?" He offered, as the others glared at him.

"PIIIKKAAACHUUU!" Ash cried, rushing up to his friend.

Pikachu had definitely avoided the worst of Gold's attack, but it was still hurt from the original battle.

Ash clutched pikachu in the battlefield, a shadow falling over his face. He balled his hands into fists and kneeled with the small yellow pokemon in his lap.

"I can't believe we lost again," he whispered.

"That was my only pokemon," the man grunted, returning his golbat. "These kids are strong! Everyone, retreat!"

The "villains" poured back into their cars and screeched off down the road again. There was another silence as the pokedex owners stood there with their pokemon.

The battle had seemed way too easy.

Dawn and Brock ran up to Ash, and stayed there with him for a bit, trying to encourage him to get back up again.

This gave the dex holders some time to talk.

"There is no _way _these kids are from Team Rocket," Silver announced.

"I kind of figured," said Gold. He turned to his seniors. "So, why did you take them in in the first place?"

Green sighed.

"It was Blue's idea. Pesky…"

Silver glared at Green and his sentence faded off.

"Team Rocket could honestly be anyone," said Blue defensively. "Clearly not _these _guys, but…"

"They had pokedexes," Said Red in a low voice.

Crystal gasped and Gold looked very surprised. Silver's expression was, as always, unreadable.

"What do you think?" Yellow whispered.

There was a silence. Nobody knew what to think. This world was full of surprises. Whether it meant anything or not was uncertain.

"I'd say the sooner we find this shinx and get out of here, the sooner we'll find those "team rocket" people," Blue announced. "Then we can leave and try to find our juniors."

The dex holders nodded in general agreement, and went back to Ash, Dawn, and Brock.

O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O

"So you're saying we have to hike through this random obscure cavern in order to get to Hunter J?" Asked Gold, gazing at the mouth of the cave.

Ash nodded, a determined look on his face.

"May I ask _how _you know this?" he asked sceptically.

"We just do," Asserted Ash. "Hiking through obscure places adds suspense to the storyline."

Blue raised her eyebrows.

"Hunter J's people have probably told her all about us by now," said Blue. "You weren't exactly, erm… _secretive _about our motives. She'll probably send more people after us anyway, and then we can just follow them to wherever she's hiding."

"But… we need to add suspense!" Ash whined again. "And if…"

He was cut off by Silver dropping out of the sky.

"When did you…?" Gold started.

Silver recalled his murkrow, giving Gold a look that clearly told him to be quiet.

"There's someone approaching from the Northeast," Silver announced. "From what I could see, it was a silver-haired woman on a salamence."

"It's must be Hunter J!" cried Dawn.

"She's so evil!" Brock declared.

"She's always stealing pokemon! She tried to get my pikachu once!" said Ash. "She thinks she's so special! She's just a… a…"

"For the last time, _we get it_," growled Green. "Now everyone prepare for battle."

"Why would she come on her own when she knows there's ten of us?" Blue asked. "That's just _stupid._"

"Don't underestimate her," Brock said gravely.

The dex holders each released a pokemon again, and prepared for an attack.

Hunter J touched down breezily, her salamence snarling. She chuckled slightly, examining her enemies.

"So you're the ones who've been giving my men trouble? You're just a bunch of kids."

She grinned slightly, dropping a pokeball and rolling it towards them with her boot.

"You can have the shinx back if you want. The man who was supposed to pick it up never showed," She balled her hands into fists. "_Dealbreaker_," she spat.

Gold snorted.

"WHAT? You think my business is funny, do you?" She asked.

"No, just your… choice of insult. You're supposed to be some huge evil and that's honestly the worst you could think of?"

J's face turned somewhat red.

"He… he _was _a dealbreaker! Were you not listening to my rant?"

"No," said Gold. "I was a little preoccupied with the fact that your salamence has wings, but instead of using them it just kind of hovers in place. It's freaking me out a li… ow!"

Crystal stomped on Gold's foot, trying to stop him escalating the situation, but it was too late.

"THAT'S IT!" Said Hunter J, finally snapping. "GO, ARIADOS! DRAPION! SALAMENCE!"

Red, Green, and Blue instinctively teamed up, releasing perfectly tuned ultimate moves at the three attackers.

Four seconds later, Hunter J's pokemon lay fainted on the ground.

"Blast!" She called, pounding her fist in her hand.

Gold began to chuckle at her word choice again, but shrunk back at a look from Crystal.

A shadow fell across Hunter J's face. She stared at the ground, then suddenly, unexpectedly, she grinned.

"I still have one weapon left," she said darkly.

The pokedex owners paused. Something about her tone was even more serious than before. Even Gold stopped trying to hold back laughter, and looked at her in serious anticipation.

Red reached for his pokemon just in case, staring at her resolutely.

Brock, Dawn, and Ash did the same thing, even though they knew exactly what was coming and probably could have told the dex holders.

J lifted her arm and pointed at her foes. A machine on her arm lit up, about to release some sort of blast.

The pokedex owners commanded their pokemon to release attacks, but J's beam was faster.

Gold's instincts took over. Through another weird breach of physics, he was able to grab Crystal to his right and Ash to his left, and pull them inside the mouth of the cave and out of the way of the beam.

The others were in its direct path however, and did not have a chance to escape.

The three inside the cave heard muffled laughter, then J's voice.

"Well, well, well. Perhaps this will serve as a reminder not to mess with Hunter J. Farewell, foolish children."

Gold heard her footsteps disappear into the distance.

He leapt out of the cave, and couldn't believe what he saw.

_Oh, no. No, no, no. Please, please not again. Not again._

He dashed towards his companions, teeth clenched and eyes wide. His mind was racing as he placed his fingertips on Silver's shoulder.

_Not again, not again, not again._

Crystal sunk to her knees beside him, looking as awful as he felt.

"They… they've been turned to stone. Again."

Hearing her say it was even worse than just thinking it. He frantically ran down the line of what used to be his friends.

"Please, Red. Green. Somebody, please!"

He looked at the frozen faces of his comrades, desperately willing them to move.

Crystal was shaking her head, her face buried in her hands. Beside her, Ash and pikachu looked just as defeated.

"No! Brock, Dawn! My friends!"

Gold turned towards Crystal and Ash.

"We have to do something. J… Jirachi…"

Ash shook his head. "No, it only wakes up once every thousand years. We already saw it on our adventures."

"Of course you did," said Gold, pulling out his pokedex. "We have to contact Oak. _Our _Oak."

"It won't work," Crystal said. "There's no way."

There was a long silence. They were in shock, with no idea what to do.

"I HAVE AN IDEA!" Ash cried, jumping to his feet.

Gold looked at him, slightly bemused.

Ash positioned pikachu in front of the statues, determinedly staring at them.

"Pikachu, use hidden power!" He commanded.

There was a glowing light, as pikachu released its energy and focused it on the statues. The light travelled from their toes up, turning the dull brown stone back to colour, restoring life to their empty faces.

"Wh… what just happened?" Asked Yellow, glancing at Ash's pikachu.

Gold took a deep breath, and Crystal cried out in relief.

"We were just having a bit of a déjà vu there. Clearly nothing too serious, though," He said, staring at Ash's pikachu in disbelief.

"Do you have some kind of special pikachu?" Crystal asked in awe.

"Of course! He's my special friend!" said Ash, hugging pikachu.

"It's not just Ash's pikachu!" said Brock matter-of-factly. "Turning to stone really isn't that rare. Tons of stuff can cure it, hidden power, technology, tears…"

"Tears?" Asked Gold in disbelief. "This place is ridiculous!"

"Tears have the power of love and friendship," said Ash in a serious tone.

Blue rubbed her head.

"Well that was anticlimactic."

Silver leaped into action, already shaking off being turned to stone for the second time.

"We already knew this world was… different. Now let's go find those losers who call themselves team rocket and…" he gestured towards Ash, Brock and Dawn, "leave these freaks for good."

Ash waved at Silver cheerfully.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello everyone! Thanks again for the reviews! And again, I'm really sorry I always take so long to update.**

**I don't own pokemon.**

Sapphire flipped over in bed, staring at the opposite wall.

There was a white, round dresser with three smiling stuffed pokemon on it. The adorable skitty's pink fur blended in to the pink wallpaper behind it. Everything was patterned in hearts.

She shivered and pulled her head under the covers. It was no use. The fluffy bedspread was covered in smiling pikachu with bows around their necks.

She poked her head out for air, and her ear nudged something fluffy. She slowly turned to face it.

It was the stuffed torchic.

"AGH!" She jumped into a sitting position, instinctively grabbed the offending cute thing, and hurled it across the room.

"Ouch! Sapph…ire…" Ruby's tired voice came from the air mattress to the left of Sapphire's bed.

"So… sorry. I… I just…" She was panting, still staring at the torchic that had now bounced into the corner.

"That's the fifth time so far. It's after midnight. Please… just… ju…" Ruby yawned widely.

"Well sorry!" Sapphire snapped. "It's just a little hard to sleep with a zillion things staring at you!"

"Sapphire…" Ruby picked up the nearest stuffed pokemon. "This is not creepy. It's cute." He shook the wailmer for emphasis.

It squeaked.

"I CAN'T DO THIS!" she burst out.

"Mff… again?" mumbled Emerald from the other air mattress. He stretched and rubbed his eyes.

"It… it surprised me," Sapphire mumbled, blushing slightly.

Emerald glanced at the corner where Sapphire had thrown the torchic. It had joined a small pile of the other stuffed things she had hurled across the room.

"Honestly Sapphire…" he rolled over and wrapped a pillow around his head.

Ruby let out a light snore, and Sapphire knew her companions had already fallen back asleep.

She bit the pillow in frustration, leaving slight bite marks on a marill in a pikachu costume. There was absolutely no way she could sleep like this.

She sighed and faced the wall with the window. There was a clear view of a quaintly decorated backyard, with a sprinkling of forest just beyond it.

Usually seeing the outdoors helped her relax, but all it did this time was increase her growing feeling of dread. The unfamiliar landscape reminded her how far away they were from home, and how their chances of escaping decreased with each passing minute.

They had to find the others.

But there was no use trying anything until the morning. The least she could do for now was try to get some sleep.

Her thoughts grew cloudy as sleep finally threatened to take over. The gentle swaying of the trees was almost hypnotic, and her eyes were just starting to close when suddenly, they snapped open again.

There was someone outside.

She went on full alert, silently creeping over to the window.

The person was silhouetted against the tree line, staring at the house.

"Ruby! Emerald!" she whispered urgently.

"SAPPHIRE! WE DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR BATTLES AGAINST ALL THAT IS CUTE! PLEASE just…" Emerald faded away as he saw her serious expression.

"What is it?" Ruby asked, sitting up.

"There's someone outside. Now will you shut up Emerald? You're going to wake May's family!"

"Someone outside?" asked Emerald, ignoring the last comment.

Sapphire silently opened the window to get a better view. She leaned her head out slightly, relishing in the cool air playing across her face.

The person was starting to walk towards the house, and Sapphire could finally see him as he stepped out of the shadows.

What she saw made her quickly draw back into the house, shocked.

"Ruby…" she said in a low voice.

"Wh…" he looked out the window and jumped back also.

Emerald blinked at the person standing there.

"I guess Sapphire's not the only one with a creepy clone here, huh?" he said bluntly.

The boy had looked exactly like Ruby.

"What should we do?" Sapphire whispered, looking back and forth from Ruby to the boy. "What if he knows May or…"

"Guys, he's coming towards the house!" Emerald said. "We need to head him off before he knocks on the door!"

"Who visits someone in the middle of the night?" Sapphire mumbled angrily.

She tiptoed to the door and opened it carefully, slipping out into the hallway. Ruby and Emerald followed quietly.

They ran as quickly down the hall as they could without making a sound.

Sapphire reached the door first, and flung it open just as the boy was reaching up to ring the doorbell.

"It's the middle of the night!" she said, without thinking. "What are you doing?"

"Norman's expecting me. I said I wanted to battle and he said to come over as soon as I got here," said the boy.

"It's the middle of the night!" Sapphire said, still using an undertone to avoid waking May's family.

"Oh," said the boy. "Sorry. I didn't know that."

"How could you possibly not know that?" asked Emerald, angrily. "It's pitch black out here!"

"To tell you the truth…" whispered the boy. "I don't really know much about the real world."

Sapphire raised an eyebrow.

"I'm…" the boy lowered his gaze as if he was admitting something shameful. "I'm a cameo character. They don't let me out much."

"They?" asked Emerald.

"Shhh!" said the boy desperately. "Don't let them hear you!"

Ruby stared at the boy, still caught up in how much they looked alike.

"Umm… who are you, exactly?" he asked.

"I'm Brendan," said the boy. "I'm going to be a pokemon master."

"Of course you are," Ruby mumbled.

"Okay, have you not noticed that you two look exactly alike?" stated Emerald frankly.

"Do we?" said Brendan, blinking. "Is… is that weird?"

Sapphire almost felt sorry for the boy.

"Look… Brendan… you can't go visiting people in the middle of the night. No matter what you… say you are."

Brendan looked a little panicked.

"But… but where else will I go? I have no home… no family… or… maybe I do?"

He stared into the distance, lost in thought.

"Right… well, we have to go back in. You can camp out here and challenge the gym in the morning," said Emerald.

Brendan nodded, sitting down on the steps.

Ruby and Emerald glanced at each other, still not sure he was getting the point.

"Alright, well… bye then," said Sapphire uncertainly, shutting the door on him.

O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O

There was a knocking on the door.

"_Just _as I had managed to get to sleep…" Sapphire mumbled angrily, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

It was still dark out.

"What?" she sounded almost furious now. "I _told _him to…"

She hopped out of bed and took off down the hall again.

Ruby and Emerald stretched, slightly confused and followed sleepily after her.

"Brendan, I said that you…" she faded off, throwing open the door.

"Hi SaPpHire~!" May trilled, looking excited. "What are you doing here?"

Sapphire shot Emerald an angry look. She _knew _this plan was stupid!

Ruby gasped.

"Guys… it's…"

"Ruby? Emerald?" asked Pearl stepping in to view. "Wait, Sapphire? Or are you really…"

"I FOUND RUBY!" called Dia, from down the stairs. "He's… wait…"

Dia pulled Brendan into view of the doorway, staring at Ruby.

There was a moment of silence as the dex holders looked baffled, Brendan rubbed his head awkwardly, and May smiled at them all.

"Alright, everybody inside!" called Sapphire, taking charge. She herded everyone into the nearest room.

There was more awkward silence as they stood there, still trying to figure everything out.

"Eehee, all my new friends are getting along so well!" May bubbled.

She glanced at Brendan.

"I don't think we've met!" she said. "I'm May! But some people know me as the PRIN-cess of Hoenn!"

She extended her hand for Brendan to shake.

"Um, I'm Brendan…" he said, staring at the hand, not quite sure what he was supposed to do with it.

"Okay!" said May, withdrawing her hand, unfazed.

"Wait, what? So you're May, and you're Brendan… so…" Pearl looked severely confused.

"Dia, Pearl, our pokedexes are reacting," Platina said simply. "This is really Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald."

The pokedex owners pulled out their pokedexes. Sure enough, they were resonating in response to the presence of more dex holders.

"I HAVE ONE OF THOSE TOO!" said May, refusing to be left out. She pulled out her pokedex, to general shock from the dex holders.

"What is going on!" Pearl cried.

"We don't know either!" shouted Sapphire.

"Guys! Keep it down! You're going to wake up the whole house!" Ruby said desperately. "For all we know, Max could be listening from outside the door right now!"

"No I'm not!" said Max.

"I'M GOING TO…" Emerald threw open the door, appearing ready to throttle Max. Instead, he grabbed him by his nightshirt and dragged him into the room with them.

Max gasped dramatically.

"Two Mays?" he asked, glancing from Sapphire to May.

"No, silly! This is my friend Sapphire!" said May, putting her arm around Sapphire's shoulder.

"Fine, but could you please keep it down?" asked Sapphire, shrugging out of May's arm.

"Wait, how do I know you're not lying?" asked Max warily.

"What… SHE HAS _FANGS_ YOU LITTLE…" Emerald started, but quieted down at a furious look from Sapphire.

"I have to ask a question only the real May would know," he said sneakily.

"I'm not May! Can't you tell who your own your own sister is?" asked Sapphire.

"What was your ranking in the Kanto Grand Festival Tournament?" asked Max.

"I made it to the top 4!" said May, relishing in the memory.

"I don't care! You really need to learn how to listen!" said Sapphire in annoyance.

"You ARE the real May!" said Max, walking up to his sister.

Emerald resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Then who… who are YOU?" asked Max angrily, spinning around to face Sapphire. "I'm telling dad!"

"No! Max, it's okay! They're my friends!" said May, grabbing her brother's arm.

"They were pretending to be you and staying in our house!" Max cried.

Dia, Pearl, and Platina glanced at the Hoenn trio. Ruby and Sapphire looked slightly embarrassed, but Emerald proudly gave them a thumbs-up.

"Well that's your fault then! They're just fans of mine!" May said defiantly. "In fact…"

She turned away from her brother and faced the six dex holders.

"You're all fans of mine! And… Ruby says he won contests before, so…"

May pointed to Brendan.

"You must be one of Ruby's fans! We're all co-ordinators, working towards a common goal! That means we're ALL friends!" she squealed.

The dex holders remained silent, trying to see where she was going with this.

"And friends stick together, right?"

She beamed at them all.

"Not always!" Sapphire burst out. "Doesn't… absence make the heart grow fonder… and… stuff?"

"Oh, I definitely know that," said May, suddenly nostalgic. "It seems you're just starting out, Sapphire, so you might not know much about this, but it's very hard to have to say goodbye to a friend. Even if you're only gone for a little while… it's like… you go back and they're a completely new person!"

Ruby and Sapphire exchanged glances.

"Anyway…" May babbled on. "There's a contest tomorrow, and I think we should ALL go participate!"

Sapphire glared at everyone, as if daring them to agree.

"Okay," said Emerald.

"NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT OKAY!" cried Sapphire. She caught herself and lowered her voice. "I mean… think about it Emerald…" she shot May a glance.

"Can I see your pokedex again, May?" said Emerald pointedly.

"Okay!" she chirped, pulling it out. "Professor Birch gave it to me!"

Sapphire staggered back, still looking angry.

"Pr… Professor Birch?"

May nodded.

"Oh… yeah…" said Brendan uncertainly. "I think he might be my dad, but… maybe not…"

He stopped, lost in thought.

Sapphire flinched slightly.

The pokedex owners looked at her sympathetically.

Sapphire mentally shook herself, refusing to show weakness. If there was a Norman in this world, she supposed there would be other people the same too.

She wondered what other secrets this world held.

"Are you okay, Sapphire? You look a little weird!" May said.

"I'm fine!" Sapphire snapped. "But you're right, we should all stick together."

If things were this weird, they'd need someone who knew the world to help them figure stuff out.

May was really annoying, but she was easy to fool and could be persuaded easily into helping them.

Max was also really annoying and a bit of a know-it-all, but he appeared as if he knew the way this world worked very well.

And Brendan… well, she just kind of felt sorry for Brendan.

The Sinnoh trio nodded, allowing their seniors to take the lead.

There was a sudden noise upstairs. The adults were awake.

The dex holders glanced up nervously.

"Umm, where's the next contest, May?" said Ruby, panicked.

"There's one in Slateport City!" she announced.

"I can't wait any longer! Let's go right now!" Pearl cried.

May smiled largely.

"I remember my first contest! I was pretty excited too…"

But she was interrupted as the others dashed frantically for the door.

"THAT'S THE SPIRIT!" May called.

She and Max followed them, with Brendan trailing confusedly behind.


	9. Chapter 9

**I have officially taken it upon myself to wage war upon the fourth wall. I apologise if I got any aspects of the anime characters' pokemon wrong. All I'm going by is the internet, here. And yes, I did add in a triple battle even though they're not in Unova. I just love those things SO MUCH.**

**There actually is a magical charizard farm in the sky, by the way.**

**I know.**

**Thanks again to everyone for the reviews :)**

**I don't own pokemon.**

_Rocket research lab: 0923 hours after project giratina._

"Have you found anything out yet?" Demanded a man, approaching one of his subordinates.

He stepped over various research papers and bits of technology to stand next to the scientist, glancing at his findings that lit up the computer screen.

The scientist nervously adjusted his glasses, clicking rapidly on various icons.

"Judging by the real-time simulation I have conducted, we've been able to narrow it down into several dimensions, sir," He stuttered.

"And those would be?" Asked the man, urging the scientist on.

"The… er… well, they're not really named, but we've given them names corresponding to their atmosphere, ability, and various other…"

"Get on with it," Growled the first man.

"Yes… yes sir! Sorry, sir! We have deemed four possible dimensions so far, those being dimensions JL14113, MD11098, HK98400 and GJ22164."

"And what does that mean?" Asked the first man patiently.

"Erm… right. Well, the first dimension is basically like ours, except with no pokemon. The second contains several magical English teenagers being chased by a pale sixty-year-old with no nose. The third contains a whiney teenager who falls in love with a vegetarian sparkly vampire. And the fourth… well, we can't seem to figure out what's wrong with that one."

"You mean it's the same?" He asked.

"Oh no, it's definitely different. Way different. We just haven't been able to pinpoint how. The climate conditions and pokemon seem similar to our world, as well as various other variables. The people that live there, however…"

"So, hold on. You're telling me that no matter where they are, chances are that they're safe?" Asked the man, hands curling into fists.

The scientist nodded sheepishly, shrinking and trying to avoid conflict.

"I ordered giratina to terminate them! Don't tell me it somehow avoided this!"

"We… erm… believe, sir, that it has background with certain dex holders, and couldn't bring itself to entirely obey our orders."

"But they can't _come back_, can they?" Asked the man, livid.

"We believe, sir, that as they travelled dimensions, a hole was opened up. Sort of like Turnback Cave in Sinnoh. Wherever a dimensional portal is opened, there needs to be some earthbound place to conceal it."

"So all they have to do is _find _this place?" Asked the man, his voice dropping dangerously.

"Well, certain conditions must be met," Said the scientist confidently, pleased to finally be able to deliver some good news.

"And that would be?" Asked the man.

"We… we don't know quite yet sir," Said the scientist, readjusting his glasses and dropping his gaze back down to his research.

"But you will _find out, _won't you?" the man asked, through clenched teeth.

"Of… of course sir! Yes sir! I'll get right on it!" the scientist squeaked.

"Good," Said the man, turning to walk away.

He stepped into the doorway, then turned back to face his subordinate, a maniacal grin splitting his face.

"While you're at it, do some calculations for me," He said. "Figure out how many grunts we can send after them."

O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O

"Why are we doing this again?" Asked Crystal, following Ash up to the top of the mountain.

"Shinx wants to be free!" He announced. "I'm sure its owner would understand!"

"What on EARTH gives you the idea that shinx wants to be free?" She asked, trying desperately to remain sane.

"I can just tell," Said Ash sadly, shaking his head. "I've had to say goodbye to many of my friends over the years. Pidgeot, butterfree, lapras…"

"Aipom," Supplied Dawn.

Ash nodded, counting on his fingers.

"Charizard?" Asked Brock.

"Oh, no," Said Ash. "Charizard's not gone. He just went to the magical charizard farm in the sky."

The dex holders exchanged glances.

"We're sorry for your loss," Said Green nonchalantly. "But seriously, I think we should talk to this Shinx's owner before releasing it."

"But I have a sad song all picked out!" Said Ash, waving a burnt disk in front of his face. He paused, considering for a moment. "Have we done, 'the time has come' yet?"

Brock and Dawn thought for a moment.

"I don't… oh wait, yes. That time you almost left pikachu," Said Brock.

"Darn!" Said Ash, looking down at the disk. "I guess we can't release it yet, then. I had a montage of its life all prepared, too."

"But you've only known it for, like, 45 minutes," Gold pointed out.

"Pikachu's a surprisingly good actor," Said Ash. "Wanna see its shinx impression?"

"Not… really," Said Gold. "Let's keep looking for Team Rocket."

"I say we check Celestic Town!" Declared Ash. "It's not far now!"

"Sure," Said Gold slowly. "But what about the sh…"

**SMASH CUT**

"WHAT the?"

Gold planted his feet carefully on the ground in front of him, observing the scene.

"How did we just?"

"We changed scenes!" Said Ash happily. "The audience doesn't want to watch us walk all day, and the author is too lazy to put in a transition!"

Gold stared blankly at Ash, then sighed and turned to face what was unmistakably Celestic Town.

"Why didn't we do this earlier?" Asked Red uncertainly.

"Do what?" Asked Ash, blinking.

"The scene change… thing," Said Red hopelessly, waving his arms a little.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Said Ash cheerfully.

The dex holders glanced at each other, a little creeped out.

There was yet another awkward silence.

"Well, erm…" Red cleared his throat. "Where should we check for Team Rocket?"

"They'll show up eventually," Said Dawn dismissively. "For now, who's up for a little TRAINING?"

She said this like it was the most exciting thing that could possibly happen.

Taken a little by surprise, the dex holders immediately responded with the first answer that came to their minds.

"Sure," Said Red, Brock, Ash and Gold at the exact same time Green, Silver, Blue and Crystal shouted "No!"

The dex holders stared at each other, flustered. They seemed to come to the same conclusion at the same time.

Gold and Silver whirled around and glared at Yellow, daring her to take the other's side. Gold's glare was scary, but Silver's was positively terrifying.

"I… I…" She spluttered, blushing under the pressure.

"Aw, leave her alone guys," Said Red kindly. "All who don't want to train can head over to the pokemon centre or something. We'll only be a little while."

"Yeah! The people at the pokemon centre are really nice!" Announced Ash, seemingly pleased at his choice of adjective.

"I really don't think we should split up," Said Crystal carefully.

"Why do you _want _to train with them anyway?" Asked Blue, confused.

"I always give pointers to those who ask. It's part of being the champion," Said Red, shrugging. "I'm kind of obliged to."

"_I_ just kind of want to beat these wimps in a battle," Gold said bluntly.

"We won't go easy on you!" Ash said merrily.

Pikachu agreed heartily, and they high fived.

"How often must you _say _that?" Sighed Green. "Well, have fun guys. We're off to catch some sanity."

"Come on Yellow! Make it a triple battle!" Called Brock.

"I… I…"

Yellow frantically glanced at both groups. She spotted Red smiling at her and blushed.

"Okay, I guess," She whispered, allowing Brock to drag her over to their group.

"FAREWELL MY FINE LADIES! UNTIL OUR FATED PATHS CROSS ONCE AGAIN!" He shouted, waving at Blue and Crystal.

Blue scowled at him and Crystal pretended she hadn't heard.

O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O

"I CHOOSE YOU, INFERNAPE!" Screamed Ash, making the world go swirly and shift around quickly. He tossed a pokeball at the grass. An infernape promptly appeared, shrieking its name.

At the same time, Brock and Dawn dramatically released a pachirisu and a croagunk.

Gold and Yellow looked at Red, slightly bewildered, but he stubbornly avoided their gaze. Shaking it off, the three of them released Chuchu, Poli, and Sintaro.

"INFERNAPE, FLAMETHROWER NOW!" Yelled Ash, pointing towards the pokemon.

It quickly jumped up, and released a blast of fire that travelled very slowly towards Sintaro, giving it time to make several dramatic facial expressions just for kicks. The pokemon jumped out of the way just in time, extremely pleased with itself for learning to defy physics.

"Alright, Poli, hydro pump!" Shouted Red.

Once again, the blast of water was extremely slow, and Dawn had enough time to issue a thunderbolt as it was travelling.

The beams collided and exploded.

"ALRIGHT, CROAGUNK, IT'S UP TO US! FAAAAAINT ATAAAACK!" Shouted Brock.

"Oh, no! Quick Chuchu, try to dodge it!" Said Yellow.

Unfortunately, Chuchu was a little slower and wasn't quite ready to learn to dodge yet. It took the only hit of the turn.

"Oh, no Chuchu! Um… try thundershock!" Said Yellow desperately.

Chuchu quickly responded, sending a bolt of lightning after Brock's croagunk. The pokemon didn't mange to dodge it, and also took the brunt of the attack, fainting.

"Nooo! Croagunk!" Cried Brock hysterically.

"We'll take it from here Brock!" Said Dawn seriously. "Pachirisu, super fang!"

The last thing Yellow remembered was seeing pachirisu lunging for Chuchu.

Suddenly, there was a sharp blow to the back of her head, and strong arms pushed her over into the dirt. She writhed around, struggling to see her attacker, but a sturdy presence held her down, to the point where she had to fight to breathe past the dust kicking up around her.

"Chu...chu!" She coughed, trying desperately to look for her pokemon.

There was a splitting pain where she had been hit, and stars flew across her vision. Edges went fuzzy and faded out. She went limp for a few seconds, unable to fight past the pain.

Suddenly, she was facedown on the ground, and she realised the person was no longer there. Her hands were bound behind her back, her legs shackled in heavy chains. Sounds of struggle around her told her that there was more than one assailant. She could hear Red trying to fight them off, and strange beeping noises as Gold tried to curse at them.

Suddenly, she noticed their pokedexes lying in a heap near her feet. The addition of three others told her that Brock, Ash, and Dawn had also been captured. With every last ounce of her strength, she contorted her legs and kicked a random pokedex up towards her pocket, carefully sliding it in before they threw the bag over her head.

O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O

"Is all this technology _really_ necessary?" Asked Blue, glancing around the pokemon centre. "Seriously, there's a big screen T.V behind the counter. What could people possibly have to look at _behind the counter?"_

"They have _everything," _Said Crystal in awe. "Look, sleeping quarters, battle arena… where does a non-profit clinic get the _budget _for this?"

"HELLO!" Said a random pink-haired nurse, waltzing up to the dex holders. "How are YOU today?"

"Erm… fine?" Said Blue. "Look, we're looking for a place to stay for the night. Do you happen to have ten spaces open?"

"We _always _have room for enthusiastic young trainers!" She said, smiling widely. "I'll prepare a room right away. You can take a seat in the lobby for now."

Green sighed and sat in the closest chair, clearly more than ready to rest for a bit. Their travelling companions had _way_ too much energy for his taste.

Crystal sat down neatly next to him, routinely checking her pokedex for any signs of responsiveness.

Out of habit, Blue and Silver nodded to each other, then proceeded to sweep the room for exits. This routine dated back to their first few days of escape from the masked man. They could never settle anywhere without being absolutely sure they were safe first. The habit had receded over the years, and instead of frantically searching for any possible window or keyhole, Blue had learned to casually walk by doors, glancing offhandedly at anything that seemed a little off.

She supposed she could technically break this habit, but she couldn't think of a good reason why she needed to. It was always useful to know your surroundings, as she had quickly learned from a very early age.

She stopped walking suddenly.

"Um, Silver, have you seen this?" She asked quietly.

Silently, the boy appeared at her side, waiting faithfully for her explanation.

Wordlessly, she pointed into the room.

Several pikachu were running on a circular treadmill, with some sort of electrical device attached to them. They endlessly chanted their names as they worked, and the overall effect was pretty eerie.

There was a long silence as the two stared at the pokemon.

"I've learned it's best not to ask," Sighed Silver, walking away.

"But… they're powering the machines! Isn't that a little cruel?" She asked, looking ruefully at the pokemon.

"Look how happy they are," Silver pointed out.

Sure enough, the pikachu were smiling as they worked, never slowing down or faltering.

"But… don't they ever get tired?" Asked Blue, still uncertain. "Or hungry?"

"Just leave it be," Silver advised. "Seriously, nobody ever gets sad or tired in this world. They're probably thrilled to have something to do."

Blue looked like she was about to add something, but suddenly Crystal appeared at their side.

"Guys, you HAVE to see this!" She said frantically, grabbing them by the sleeves and wheeling around. She started walking very quickly back into the foyer, dragging them in tow.

They tried to keep up, jogging slightly. Blue shot Silver a confused look, and he stared bewilderedly at his companion.

Suddenly, she stopped walking and plunked them down into seats next to Green, pointing mutely at one of the many plasma screens littering the room.

Blue gasped a little, but Green and Silver remained expressionless.

The girl on the screen looked almost exactly like Crystal. Her hair was an odd shade of powder blue, and she carried herself in a bouncy way that reminded them vividly of Dawn.

"Who is _that?_"Blue breathed.

"They called her 'Marina'," Green said matter-of-factly. "I guess she's an idol or something."

They continued to watch soundlessly for a full forty seconds as Marina flounced across the screen, raving on about the new poketch. Her voice was squeaky and fluctuated in all the wrong places.

The commercial ended, and the T.V went back to an infomercial.

The dex holders sat in stunned silence.

"Do you think… that was like, Crystal's double or something?" Asked Blue. "Isn't that how things work with dimension travel?"

"I don't know…" Said Crystal hesitantly. "It sure was weird, though…"

"Hey!" Said Blue suddenly, bolting upright. "Dawn… she looks kind of like one of our juniors! Was it… Platina? And… Brock's a gym leader in Kanto too, right?"

"You're right," Said Silver slowly. "I think we should share our findings once the others come back. I think we might be onto something."

The dex holders considered this strange turn of events.

"So…" Said Green cautiously. "How will we know when we've found our juniors? I know all of your personalities enough to know who you are, but…"

"They'll have pokedexes built like ours," Said Silver simply. "There are slight variations in the design of ours and the others'."

Blue nodded thoughtfully. "I guess we'll talk about this more once the others come back."


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you very much for the reviews again, everyone! Things are going to start moving forward a bit from here. Believe it or not, there is actually a plot to this story!**

**I don't own pokemon, and I don't own the small amount of dialogue I borrowed from the anime.**

"Reporting in for debrief, sir!" announced a man, sitting up straight and saluting.

He was hidden in shadow and dressed in entirely black. In his hand he held a strange-looking handheld device, which was emitting occasional high-pitched beeps. The profile of a man was just visible on the screen, enshrouded in darkness.

The man on the screen didn't respond, patiently waiting for the first man to begin.

"Arrived at 1137 hours in this dimension. All appears to be going as planned. Four dex holders and two others captured. We are holding them at your request. Platina Berlitz will be the first to be interrogated, as she has ties to Giratina in the past. Currently on the trail of two others," the man recited, barely stopping for breath.

"And what trail are you following?" asked the second man stoically.

"Sending video transmission," replied the first man simply.

A fuzzy video of Norman flickered onto the screen.

"Hello, fellow gym leaders!" he said cheerfully. "I have sent out this video in the hopes that you will respond to the pleas of a couple of eager young challengers! My daughter made some new friends earlier who would really like to challenge some gyms! Their names are Ruby and Emerald, and they tell me they're not going to back down easily! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The transmission flickered out.

"We assume that the 'challengers' this man is talking about are two of the pokedex owners from Hoenn," said the first man. "We have reason to believe that they are now travelling with several locals, and are en route to Slateport City."

The second man nodded simply.

"I'll expect nothing but good news."

"Yes sir."

The man saluted, ending the transmission.

O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O

"Here we are in SLATEPORT CITY!" announced May grandly, holding her arms out towards the scene.

"ALL RIGHT!" cheered Max. "It's been so long since I've been here! I'm so _excited!"_

The dex holders trailed warily behind, glancing at their surroundings.

"Does it look right to you guys?" asked Pearl, glancing at Ruby and Sapphire.

"Not really," said Sapphire. "But I guess I can kind of see a bit of resemblance."

"Alright, first step is to register you all in today's contest! Do you all have your contest passes?"

There was a moment of awkward silence. They hadn't even considered that. They all stared at Ruby, who half-heartedly pulled out his pass.

"What a weird pass!" exclaimed May, glancing at it. "You really are a foreigner! Ah well, no matter. We'll try to get you all passes at the contest hall. For now, I say we PRACTICE ON THE BEACH!"

She pumped her first in the air excitedly, and took off running. Max cried out in delight and followed suit.

The dex holders glanced at one another, then followed quickly. Sapphire pulled Brendan along with them.

They finally arrived on a cosy beach, complete with several swimmers and an Oceanside resort. The waves rolled lazily ashore, and the sun beat down on them all.

Unable to help herself, Sapphire took off her shoes and stretched. This could quite possibly be the only fun she would have in this town of contest lovers. Emerald looked excited, and prepared to take off down the shore. Dia eyed a hot dog stand.

May was setting up a couple of towels she'd pulled from her backpack. She arranged them in a circle, and stood in the centre.

"Okay, everyone take a seat! I'm going to tell you all about contests!"

Brendan and Max plopped down immediately, followed by a hesitant Platina, Dia, and Pearl.

"Um, can I go do something else? Like, _anything_?" asked Sapphire, glancing longingly towards the ocean.

"If you're going to be in a contest, you're going to need to know how they work!" said May sternly.

"But I don't…"

Ruby pulled Sapphire onto a towel, begging her not to make a disturbance. Emerald plunked himself down in a nearby spot, looking at May expectantly.

"This'd better be good," he mumbled.

"Okay!" said May importantly. "This is May's super contest lesson, part one!"

Emerald raised an eyebrow.

"In this region, pokemon contests have two parts. First, you will appeal to the judges. Then, there's a battle!"

Sapphire perked up slightly.

"But… that defeats the whole purpose of contests!" Ruby burst out. "There are people who like just contests, and people who like just battling! What good is mixing them together?"

"The battle has to showcase all of your pokemon's beauty and talent!" said May excitedly.

Sapphire slumped back down.

"Now everybody stand up! We're going to run through some drills!" shouted May.

The others got to their feet unenthusiastically.

"First off, have you all chosen which pokemon you'll be entering?" asked May.

"Well, what kind of a contest is it?" asked Ruby. "I base my choice on what I'm aiming for. Do we want cute, smart, tough… of course, all of my pokemon are beautiful…"

"Just pick whichever pokemon you believe has the ability to win it for you! All you need is the love in your heart!"

There was a silence.

"Really?" asked Ruby. "That's it? You're asking me to pick whichever one I love?"

May nodded ecstatically.

"Doesn't that show favouritism?" asked Emerald innocently.

"Of course not!" shouted May. "We love all of our pokemon equally! You just need to pick whichever one _feels_ right!"

"I sure wish I had a pokemon," Max whined. Because apparently he just _had_ to add something.

The dex holders glanced around, waiting for someone else to go first.

Mostly just to break the latest awkward silence, Pearl hesitantly released his chatot.

May immediately pounced.

"NO! Not like that! You need to release it like you MEAN it! Do a pose or something. Now try again!"

Pearl eyed the rest of the group, silently begging someone else to demonstrate. May didn't give up.

"For example…"

Suddenly, May whipped out a pokeball. She crossed over her arms, and began to spin.

"BEAUTIFLY!" she cried dramatically, still spinning. "I CHOOSE YOU!"

She stopped spinning abruptly, bowed deeply and jumped up, then hurled the pokeball towards the sky. A beautifly soared down and sparkles appeared out of nowhere, raining down on them all.

Platinum sneezed.

Ruby gawked at her in disbelief.

"Now it's your turn!" she cried. "All of you get to try it!"

Nobody moved.

"Come on, I don't want to have to force people to go!" said May sternly.

Everyone stared at someone else.

"Okay, then I'll have you all go at once!" she announced. "That way, nobody has to feel embarrassed! On the count of three!"

May counted to three slowly and dramatically. Sighing, the dex holders decided to do what she said and not cause a disturbance. Sapphire sort of half-jumped and then sent out her aggron. Ruby actually did a graceful sort of step and then released his delcatty. Emerald didn't even bother doing anything, and impatiently sent out his sceptile. Platinum and Dia both copied what May did, spinning around and sending out their munchlax and rapidash. Brendan just stood there, staring into the distance.

There was a pause.

"That was… okay," said May finally. "Now, show me your most beautiful attacks! One at a time, around the circle!"

She glanced at Dia and Platina. Dia shrugged apologetically.

"Um… I think my munchlax is too dizzy from all that spinning."

Sure enough, the pokemon was staggering around in a circle, with Platina's rapidash stumbling nearby.

Unfazed, May directed her attention towards Sapphire. Sapphire anxiously ordered her aggron to attack. It seemed very confused, glancing back over its shoulder at her.

"I know there's nothing here to attack!" she said gruffly. "Just… like, the ground or… something…"

Ruby seemed to be holding back a chuckle at her inexperience.

Aggron self-consciously launched an attack towards the ground, creating a wave of sand that engulfed the group.

Everybody coughed for a while, brushing sand off of their clothes. Sapphire recalled her aggron nervously.

"Alright, on to Ruby," said May, still dusting herself off.

Ruby was distractedly brushing the sand out of Coco's fur.

"What? Oh, um… right. Attract, Coco!"

The delcatty let out a perfectly tuned attract, sashaying in the middle of the circle of towels.

The Sinnoh trio clapped. May nodded simply, with a smile.

"You're definitely learning, Ruby! Okay, Pearl?"

"_Definitely learning_?" mouthed Ruby. Sapphire patted him on the shoulder with mock-condolence.

"Okay… erm… Chatot, use chatter," said Pearl.

The pokemon attacked with full force, causing everyone around to recoil at the sound.

"No no no!" said May sternly. Always take note of the audience!"

Pearl rubbed his ears tenderly.

"Right… sorry, There was just nothing to attack, so I guess he kind of attacked _everything…_"

"No harm done!" said May happily, already moving on. "Emerald?"

"No way," said Emerald. "My sceptile has no idea what to do either. I will not be ridiculed."

"But Emerald, how can you ever improve if you don't even try? It's okay to fail sometimes, you know. In fact, that reminds me of a flashback…" said May mysteriously.

"A wh…" Ruby started

Suddenly, there was a flash of light and the world faded, becoming fuzzy and unfocused. Almost immediately, they were all watching a scene with May, Max, and two other kids.

"What is going _on?_" asked Emerald.

"Ssshh! We're learning a life lesson!" said May sternly.

"I'm so sorry May," said the other version of Max, looking sadly at his sister.

"I stink! I couldn't do a thing!" sobbed May. "My beautifly worked so hard… and I messed everything up!" she burst into tears.

"It's okay," said one of the boys.

"I…I just wanted to enter a contest, and perform side by side with Beautifly, but I NEVER THOUGHT HOW HARD IT WOULD BE TO LOSE!"

"It hurts, May," said the other boy.

"It hurts… a lot," said Max dramatically.

The world sharpened into focus again, and May stood triumphantly in front of them all, as if she had just proved a very important point.

"Sorry… what did that accomplish?" asked Emerald after a while.

"It proved that even great co-ordinators like me were once beginners! I lost my fair share of contests too, so there's nothing to be ashamed about!"

There was another silence.

"Gee, thanks," said Emerald.

"Did you notice how upset I was?" asked May. She appeared to be waiting for an answer.

"Um… yes," said Dia after a while.

"The point is that no matter how bad it might feel, you can always move on! I had to learn that the hard way, but now all of you know without even having to experience it yet!"

The dex holders looked at each other, mildly insulted.

"And… actually, we're almost out of time. I think we'd better go register now!" said May happily. She shook out the sand-covered towels and tucked them away.

"LET'S GO!" she cried.

"I can barely contain my excitement," mumbled Emerald.

0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O

"Does he ever stop talking?" Pearl whispered, gesturing towards Max.

Max had been giving his very detailed opinion on each of their appeals all the way to the contest hall. He had now somehow gotten onto the topic of his dad, how much better than all of them his dad was, and how his dad was going to beat them all when they went back to challenge him later.

"Not really," Emerald said, shrugging. He plunked himself down on a chair next to the window, and began to ruffle through his stuff.

"Well, you guys stay right here then!" sang May. "I'm going to go get us all registered! I'll be back soon!"

"Let me come too!" Max shouted. "I have so many memories at this place!"

The dex holders collectively sighed as the siblings walked away. They finally had some time to talk freely. They sat down in the cluster of chairs around Emerald.

Emerald pulled out his pokenav and began to scroll through random functions. He had been trying to find a service area for quite some time now, but to no avail. Ruby leaned over Emerald's shoulder, watching carefully as he scrolled through set-up options.

"Have you thought of any way to contact home yet?" Ruby asked. "Anything at all?"

"I keep trying, but I can never get a signal," Emerald muttered, shaking the device desperately. "We need someone who's good with machines or something…"

"Could I see it?" asked Brendan.

The dex holders all turned to look at him. They'd forgotten he was there.

"Um… yeah, I guess," said Emerald warily, handing it to him.

They watched as Brendan toggled through various options, carefully loading software and accessing data.

"Um… I think it's done," he said after a few minutes.

"What?" Said Emerald excitedly, jumping to his feet and leaping at the pokenav. "It _is! _What did you just _do?_"

"S…stuff," murmured Brendan.

Emerald snatched his pokenav, which was now displaying a phone icon.

"You're the best, Brendan!" he cheered. The pokedex owners all stood around Emerald, waiting anxiously for him to try to make a call. He steadily scrolled through his contacts, settling on Professor Oak's laboratory.

"Okay…" he whispered, selecting the number. He held the pokenav to his ear, and the pokedex owners held their breath.

"It's ringing!" he cried.

"How did you _do_ that?" asked Pearl excitedly, grinning at Brendan.

"I think I learned that somewhere," said Brendan, embarrassed.

"You learned about interdimensional phone service?" breathed Sapphire in disbelief.

"Guys, shut up!" hissed Emerald. "I'm trying to make a call!"

There was sudden fumbling on the other end of the line.

"Hello?"

"Professor!" cried Emerald. "It is _so _good to hear your voice! You wouldn't believe where we are right now!"

"What? Emerald?" asked the Professor, confused. "Is that really you? You've all been gone for such a long time! What happened? Are the others with you?"

"A… a few of them," said Emerald evasively. "Listen, Team Rocket's got Giratina. I think it…"

"Oh, I know they've got Giratina," said Professor Oak grimly. "We're trying to hold them off Emerald, we'll do the best we can but we really need the pokedex owners over here. Where did you say you were?"

"We're in another dimension!" said Emerald bluntly. "We need help getting home!"

"What?" said the Professor in astonishment. "This is really not a good time for all of you to be away. Listen, if Giratina sent you there, then Giratina's the only one who can bring you back. Are there pokemon in that world?"

"Um… yes, but it's kind of… different," said Emerald.

"You need to find that world's version of Giratina and get out of there," said Professor Oak plainly. "I know that may sound like the impossible, but you've all been through the impossible before. I believe in each and every one of you. We need you in our world _right now. _I don't know if the gym leaders can hold up much longer…"

"Um, Professor?" said Emerald confusedly. "What exactly has been going on since we…"

"Guuuyys! I registered you all for the contest!"

May skipped over to the dex holders, holding up contest schedules.

"Now isn't the time!" Sapphire hissed, pointing to Emerald.

"Oh no! I'm sorry!" said May sadly.

"It's okay, just…" Emerald pressed the pokenav closer to his ear. "Professor? Professor?"

He took the phone away and looked at the screen.

_Low battery, please recharge._

The screen went dark.

Emerald cried out in frustration, stuffing the device back into his bag.

"He was just about to say something really important!" he moaned.

"Well, recharge it!" cried Sapphire desperately.

"Ohhhh no!" said May theatrically. "Emerald has a contest in three minutes! He's supposed to be backstage _right now_!"

Sapphire glared at May, anger coursing through her.

"You have no idea how important it is that…"

May cut her off, dragging Emerald away obliviously.

"Your contest is next, Sapphire," she said. "Right now I need Emerald, Platina and Ruby!"

Sapphire kept pace with her, refusing to give up.

"That's not…"

But they were already being dragged into the dressing rooms.

O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O

With a contest going on inside it, the outside of the contest hall was relatively unremarkable. The occasional cheer could be heard from inside, as the latest contest concluded, and the next prepared to take action. Nobody within the vicinity cared to miss it, except for a few stragglers, who hung around the outside feeding pokeblock to their pokemon and buying souvenirs from pesky salespeople.

Not too far from the scene, a rough-looking man leaned carelessly against the brick wall of the building, talking into a handheld device. He was dressed in entirely black, and blended in perfectly with the shadow cast by the wall. Whoever he was talking to could not be heard over the ruffling of the picturesque trees and the excited chattering of hungry pokemon. He spoke softly, in a gravelly voice that only responded simply and precisely.

"Yes sir… inside the building… that's right…"

Suddenly, a white flash of teeth shone out of the darkness, forming a malicious grin. The man gripped the device fiercely, preparing himself for something big.

"Yes sir. Moving in."


	11. Chapter 11

**I'm sorry this update took so outrageously long! Thank you for the reviews. And despite all this time I had to write it, this chapter still just kind of seems like filler to me -_-. So I apologise for any disappointment there. I'll do my best to get the story moving more next time.**

**Also, just a reminder that I'm really just writing this story because I'm bored. If you're looking for a more serious, plot-driven story about the manga and anime colliding, I recommend you read "crisis on two pokeworlds" by pokerescue18. That one's more about storyline, as opposed to funny stuff my brother and I come up with when we're bored. Or keep reading mine, I don't really care.**

**And one last thing: I would like to introduce my new co-author, SageGanon! Hopefully I'll be more on track now, and updates won't take a year anymore. Round of applause, everyone!**

"LET US OOOOOOOOOUUUTTT!" shrieked Ash, propelling himself at the wall. As usual, the wall remained a wall and nothing happened. The others, attached to him by a length of rope, jerked towards him.

"Okay, that didn't work the last fourteen times, and it didn't work this time," said Gold slowly, trying to pull himself up from where he'd faceplanted on the ground.

Ash sunk to the floor, a pained look on his face.

"What have we learned?" asked Gold carefully, finally sitting himself up.

"Well I had to try something!" Ash burst out. "We need to get out of here!"

"We're _handcuffed and tied together_. Some escape that would be," said Gold, laughing slightly.

There was a silence at this. Ash slumped against the wall and joined his friends on the ground. Brock was trying to squirm out of the handcuffs and Dawn was desperately scanning the room, trying to find a way out.

Gold carefully wormed his way up the wall so that he was standing in the corner. He began to examine each wall of the place in which they were being contained. Suddenly, there was a large bump and he was knocked off his feet. Everyone lurched forward as the rope followed. Gold beeped quietly, worming his way once more up the wall without using his hands. He continued to inspect the walls of what they had determined to be the back of a truck.

They had no pokemon, it was pitch dark, and they barely had the use of their hands. Not an ideal situation, overall.

Red was sitting in the corner, eyes closed, deep in thought.

Yellow looked at him apprehensively, trying to think of a way to reach the pokedex. But even then, what could they do?

The group had noticed the bug the second they had been stuffed into the room, the hoods hastily yanked off of their heads. Beeping, emitting a red light, it wasn't even disguised in the slightest. Their captors wanted them to know they were listening to their conversations, watching their every move.

She bit her lip, silently trying to find an answer. If their captors got the slightest wind of the fact that they had a pokedex with them, it'd be all over. The pokedex would be taken, and they'd have no hope at all.

"Red," she said suddenly. "I… do… do you remember the last time you were captured like this?"

He opened his eyes, looking at her with slight confusion.

"Yeah… I guess that would be when we were frozen as statues, or…"

"I…" Without pausing in her sentence, Yellow tapped Red's hand three times from where they were handcuffed behind their backs. "…was thinking more of that time with the elite four," she said carefully. "It was… quite the adventure."

She smiled a little.

"What… yeah, I guess so?" said Red, very confused.

"I remembered you as the person who gave me my first pokemon, and I had to get to you. Just like I have…" She tapped on his hand again, very deliberately. A bit of the confusion left his face, as if he might be on to something. "… to get you out of here now. I'll get us all out of here."

"You don't have to do that alone. We'll all get out," said Red confidently.

"You need to just trust in your friends sometimes," Yellow smiled a little. "Like that time with the elite four. Green, Blue and I had a…" More tapping. Comprehension dawned on Red's face. "…plan, and we saw it through. I'm just sorry I didn't get to you sooner. Green made me train for a really long time."

"That's okay," said Red, keeping the conversation going.

"Well, it did help out in the end. Not just the physical training, either. He made me study all kinds of pokemon and stuff. Their names, their types, their pokedex…" She tapped on his hand. He smiled widely. "…numbers. And I guess it all paid off in the end. I know we'll find a way out of this, we've been through too much to quit now."

She looked at him, trying to see if he fully understood. He nodded his head, then silently jerked his head towards her pocket. She nodded, grinning excitedly. He got it! Now if they could just get to the pokedex, they could find out where they were, at least…

O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O

"They've been gone for a _long _time," said Crystal worriedly.

Her arms were crossed around her pokedex as she stood in the middle of the pokemon centre lobby, tapping her foot tunelessly.

"If they come near us again, the pokedexes will resonate," said Silver stoically. He had his out as well, quietly watching it for any sign of responsiveness.

Blue was soundlessly pacing the room, and Green was standing a few feet from Crystal, trying to get Crystal's pokegear to do something.

They had been like this for about an hour, unwavering. It was getting on 2 am, but they showed no signs of fatigue.

"I just wish we had some way to contact them!" said Green, in a sudden burst of frustration. He tossed the pokegear onto a nearby couch cushion. "Any of them! Our juniors included!"

There was a silence as they all tried to think of something. They stood still, wracking their brains.

"My pokegear doesn't work either," Silver supplied gruffly. "I just get static."

Nobody responded to this. Crystal resumed tapping her foot, scooping her pokegear off the couch and thumbing through options.

"Maybe we should…" Blue began.

She was interrupted by the loud wail of sirens blaring. A motorcycle screeched up to the front of the building, and a breathless woman hopped off of it and ran up the steps.

"That's the officer from before," said Green, with a hint of curiosity.

"Or maybe it's one of her relatives," said Crystal pointedly.

The officer burst through the door, running up to the counter.

"Nurse Joy!" she called. "Nurse Joy, there's been a kidnapping!"

The door behind the counter opened, and Nurse Joy burst through, gasping.

"Oh no!" she cried. "Who was it? Team Rocket?"

The pokedex owners stopped what they were doing, paying close attention to the conversation.

"No, we don't think so! The villains were identified as men wearing black with brown hair!" announced Officer Jenny.

"Okay! I'll keep my eye out!" said Nurse Joy seriously.

The dex holders exchanged looks.

"So who was kidnapped?" asked Nurse Joy.

"Six kids. A couple looked familiar. They mostly had dark hair but the one girl was blond," Officer Jenny declared.

Crystal took a sharp breath inward.

"That's so terrible!" said Nurse Joy sorrowfully. "What are you going to do?"

"Well, I was thinking I'd drive around on my motorcycle," said Officer Jenny purposefully. She turned on her heel and left for the door.

"Good luck!" Nurse Joy called.

"Wait!" Green called, but it was too late. The officer was gone. He whirled around to face Nurse Joy, but she was already back through the door behind the counter. "Seriously?" he mouthed, slamming his hand on the back of a chair in frustration.

"We need to find them!" Crystal said desperately.

She was shaking slightly, trying to imagine who could possibly overpower three dex holders and three other trainers. This was NOT good.

"Where would we even start?" asked Silver, pressing his fingers together in concentration. "We know nothing about the layout of this world."

"We have to try something!" Crystal wailed.

Blue nodded, worry in her eyes.

Green had his eyes closed in deep concentration. He'd suspected something like this all along. Red didn't just disappear without warning, unless something had happened. He sighed, then let out the verdict.

"No. Someone's out to get us. They all know that, and they can hold their own. Before we do anything else, we need some way to communicate. Then we can split up into smaller groups. Maybe we'll try to contact our juniors. We'd be wasting time if we just blindly chased a lead we don't have. Clearly the justice system has no idea what's going on."

"We're sure it was them that was kidnapped?" Blue asked anxiously. "It could have been any other group of six kids, really…"

"No, there's definitely someone who's targeting _us_," said Green sullenly. "Think about it. Back in our world we were all challenged to what appeared to be a simple battle, but somehow they managed to lure all of the dex holders. The next thing we knew, they had Giratina on us. And now here we are. Clearly they're plotting something."

The dex holders were silent again, desperately trying to think things through.

"I guess your plan makes sense…" Blue said finally. "I mean, this is _Red _we're talking about. Gold and Yellow aren't bad either. I'm sure they'll be able to hold their own until we find them. I just wish we had some way to get there sooner..."

"We have no idea where they were, or where their kidnappers might have headed. The best we can do now is stick with Green's plan of getting some sort of means of communication, and look for information along the way," said Silver logically.

Crystal nodded determinedly, balling her hands into fists.

"Um, a there's a bit of a problem with that plan," said Blue slowly. She turned her pockets inside out. A candy wrapper and six cents fell out.

"Well, there's my contribution," she said. "Anyone care to pool their money?"

"I spent the last of it on lunch yesterday," said Crystal shamefully.

"I have eight dollars," said Green quietly.

Silver remained quiet, shaking his head.

They stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do next. Suddenly, Blue whirled around to face Crystal.

"Hold on!" she said, as if struck by brilliant inspiration. "Remember that ad we saw yesterday? With that girl who looked just like Crystal?"

Silver seemed to catch on, and smirked slightly.

"Hold on, are you suggesting…" Green began.

"Well, clearly the people in this world aren't the most observant. It might be possible to go down to wherever they sell poketches and use Crystal's face to get at least a deal on one. And then we just try again at a different store, until we have enough for all of us!" Blue said, smiling widely at the brilliance of her plan.

"I'm really sick of following shaky plans that may not work…" Green said wearily.

"Well, it's something, at least," said Blue, shrugging.

"I suppose so," he sighed.

O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O

"And that's what happened!" said Blue cheerfully, smiling at the man across the counter.

The man frowned slightly, brow furrowed.

"So… you broke your poketch…"

Crystal forced herself to nod, trying to keep from turning red at the lie.

"And… you don't have any money to just buy one?"

Blue gasped theatrically.

"Oh no! That's a raw subject! My client here thought she was being safe when she left her money with her mother for safekeeping, but then… her mother… she spent it! She spent it all! On stuff my client never even wanted! Like berries and potions and…"

The man held up a hand, signalling that he'd heard enough.

"Whatever you say, I suppose. And you're Marina's…"

"Manager!" chirped Blue, smiling merrily.

"Okay, I'll be right back."

The man left through a door behind the counter, leaving the four dex holders alone in the store.

"Blue!" hissed Crystal, discomfort evident on her face. "There's no way they're going to believe that! A person would never use their child's money to buy items they never asked for."

Blue laughed. "I'm just testing them! It's interesting to see how much the people of this world will believe! Think of it as a… psychology experiment."

Green, who had been silently standing by a shelf of pokemon-shaped televisions, rolled his eyes and muttered something. Silver gave him a sharp look.

Suddenly, the door creaked open. Crystal glanced over, then quickly froze, her heart racing.

"Blue?" she squeaked, gripping her senior's arm.

Blue looked over, then suddenly turned serious.

"Well that puts a bit of a wrench in our plans."

She gestured to Green and Silver, who were also looking at the new arrival.

"What are the chances…" Green said, scanning the walls for another door.

"There's an exit at the side," Silver whispered.

Crystal nodded, tearing her eyes away.

Marina was standing at the door, chatting animatedly to a man beside her. Her powder blue hair bounced as she talked, smiling and approaching the counter with every passing second.

The four dex holders made a silent break for the side door, Silver in the lead. Crystal's mind raced as they slunk away. She never knew it would feel this strange to meet her double in person. She looked even more like Crystal offscreen, all except for her hair, and the way she carried herself…

"Oh-em-gee!"

Crystal flinched, desperately hoping she was talking to someone else.

"You! Over there!"

Crystal felt a hand on her shoulder. No such luck.

"You are soooo cyuute!" Marina said in a high-pitched half-squeal.

The other three had stopped as well, looking at Crystal hopelessly

Marina spun Crystal around, so they were face-to-face. The effect was eerie. Like staring into some sort of weird funhouse mirror.

Marina squealed. Crystal leaned back a little, wishing Marina would let go.

"We're like twins or something! This must be a sign!"

Crystal put on a painful smile.

"Yeah! Weird… we, um… really have to go…"

"But we haven't even introduced ourselves yet!" said Marina, with a dramatic expression of shock. "I'm Marina, this is my manager, and THIS…"

A misdreavus flew from over her shoulder, smiling widely.

"Is my misdreavus Little Miss!"

There was a long silence as they all contemplated this nickname. Crystal startled.

"Right… and I'm Crystal. Nice to meet you."

"Are you guys all pokemon trainers?" asked Marina, finally releasing Crystal and looking around at the four of them.

"Yes," said Blue, after realising the other three were remaining silent.

"That's ah-mazing! We should battle sometime! Or do you do contests?"

"Battles," replied Green quickly. "And we actually have to go, so…"

"No problem! I'd ask for your poketch numbers, but mine's broken, you see?" She held up a poketch with a smashed screen. "I accidentally threw it when I was battling!"

"You… threw it?" mumbled Crystal.

"I move around a lot while I battle! It's an idol's duty to put on a good show with every attack!"

Crystal didn't have the slightest idea what that meant.

"So that's why I'm here! It must be fate that we met Crystal, just wait, as soon as I get this fixed we'll be able to call each other and…"

Crystal was slowly backing up.

"Hold on… you guys do have poketches, don't you?"

Marina got four blank stares in return.

"Whhhat? How are we supposed to swap numbers, then? I know! I'll get some for all of you! I get special discounts, you know."

Crystal squirmed guiltily.

"No, no we couldn't possibly accept…"

"That would be great!" Blue burst out. "Thank you sooooo much Marina! I'm Blue, and I just LOVE your stuff! I think you're AWESOME!"

The other three stared at her. Even Silver had never seen her act quite like this. She was playing to Marina's personality type, no doubt.

"Thanks Blue! For sure I'll get you a poketch! Just let me ask!"

Blue giggled slightly as Marina turned around. It worked! Why not accept charity, if she was offering it in the first place? Either way they got what they were after.

Blue was awoken from her fantasy by a hiss from Crystal.

"Blue! The guy behind the counter still thinks I'm Marina!"

Uh oh. Blue whirled around towards the door again, holding a hand in the air.

"Buuuuut… we should go somewhere else!" she announced.

Marina blinked. She really had just wanted to get a quick replacement, but it had been so long since she'd had a good chat, she couldn't resist spending some time with these people.

"Okay, I guess. There's a place not far from here, If you'd like."

Blue smiled. "Great! Lead the way!"

O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O

"Ash, could you please stop moving around?" snapped Gold after being pulled onto his face for the three hundred and fifty ninth time.

"We need to get out of here!" said Ash desperately.

"Really?" asked Gold. "I had no idea. Anyway…"

Gold was cut off as the truck slammed to a stop, causing its passengers to be thrown towards the front. They painstakingly untangled their limbs and sat up again.

"We stopped!" cried Dawn unnecessarily.

They sat quietly and listened as a door slammed at the front of the truck. Footsteps approached, then faded away.

"I think they're gone!" said Dawn.

"No, there's probably someone watching the truck," Red said. "They wouldn't just leave us…"

Dawn slumped back down, looking pensive.

"I've got an idea," said Ash, as if announcing something extremely important. "We'll break out!"

"Okay! You start!" Said Gold, feigning excitement.

Ash made a small movement, then stopped, looking confused. He sunk back down, thinking hard. There was a long silence, the group completely out of ideas.

Red desperately tried to think of something to say. Really any suggestion would work. He just needed to get them talking again. Gold being silent was a little weird.

Suddenly, Red faltered in his thoughts. Was that noise just his imagination? He had thought the truck bed was silent before, but now…

"Yellow, what's that beeping noise?" he asked slowly.

Her eyes widened as she listened.

"It… it's…" she bit her lip, nodding feverishly. It was the pokedex, but she couldn't let the bug pick up on it.

Red grinned widely, while the others looked severely confused.

"I don't get it. What are you guys talking about?" asked Dawn.

Red turned to her, excitedly.

"Let's just say… help is closer than you think."


End file.
